AMERICANS 


PT J'STFR 

\~s  U  O    I  U/1 V 


LLENBAUGH 


>r  iii  ne     Aymoiid     Mt-Voy 
6863    SHERIDAN    KI>. 
CHICAGO,     I 


TRUE   STORIES   OF  GREAT   AMERICANS 


GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

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THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Taken  by  Brady  just  after  Lee's  surrender.  This  was  Custer's 
favorite  portrait.  He  is  in  undress  uniform.  The  wide  hat  was  cap 
tured  from  a  Confederate,  and  the  blue  flannel  shirt  was  bought  from 
a  government  gunboat  on  the  Potomac  River.  The  necktie  was  scarlet, 
a  color  adopted  when  he  was  made  a  brigadier-general  at  twenty- 
three,  and  worn  also  by  his  troops  after  that  event.  This  photograph 
shows  Custer  at  the  age  of  twenty-five. 


GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 


BY 
FREDERICK   S.    DELLENBAUGH 


:  Their  noonday  never  knows 

What  names  immortal  are : 
'T  is  night  alone  that  shows 
How  star  surpasseth  star." 

JOHN  B.  TABB. 


If  0rfc 

THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1917 

All  rights  ret 'trv id 


COPYRIGHT,  1917, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  January,  1917. 


NcrtoooU  Jlresg 

J.  8.  Cashing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


PREFACE 

WERE  I  reading  of  one  unknown  to  me,  I  should 
close  this  book  with  the  thought  that  it  was  the 
fairest  and  frankest  story  of  an  intrepid  soldier 
that  his  greatest  admirers  might  demand. 

General  Custer's  victories  in  the  Civil  War  are 
commended  without  exaggeration,  his  Indian  cam 
paigns  described  by  one  who  perfectly  understood 
the  difficulties  to  be  overcome  and  therefore  could 
estimate  at  what  cost  success  was  attained. 

So  few  do  just  what  they  want  to  do  in  this  life. 
The  author  makes  one  know  that  he  of  whom  he 
writes  was  one  of  that  number. 

General  Custer  was  enthusiastic  over  his  profes 
sion  and  entered  upon  his  Indian  campaigns  com 
manding  a  few  hundred  men  as  buoyantly  as  when 
he  had  led  thousands  in  the  Civil  War. 

The  responsibilities  of  the  few  leaders  of  the 
cavalry  in  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  were  very 
great.  When  sent  on  special  expeditions,  they 
often  encountered  the  enemy  at  such  a  distance 
from  the  main  command  that  it  was  as  if  they 
were  a  separate  army;  and  it  was  impossible  to 


M667887 


vi  PREFACE 

receive  instructions  from  headquarters,  report  en 
gagements,  or  apply  for  reinforcements. 

Sometimes  the  orders  in  leaving  were  short  and 
verbal  instead  of  long,  formal,  written  documents, 
as  is  usual. 

I  remember  one  of  General  Custer's  orders  in 
starting  on  a  long  raid  in  Virginia,  after  he  had  won 
the  confidence  of  his  commanding  officer  by  many 
successes.  There  were  only  six  words  in  General 
Sheridan's  forceful  order :  "  Custer,  go  in  and  give 
them  .  .  ."  well,  something  very  pyrotechnic. 

He  was  thus  at  liberty  to  work  out  his  own  idea 
of  the  inferno,  but  he  knew  well  that  his  concep 
tion  quite  corresponded  to  that  of  his  chief. 

But  these  raids  were  a  great  undertaking  for 
those  who  were  little  more  than  boys,  for  they 
were  answerable  for  so  much.  They  lost  every 
ounce  of  superfluous  flesh  and  deep  lines  were 
carved  in  their  faces. 

The  excellent  likeness  of  General  Custer  shown 
in  the  frontispiece  by  Brady,  the  war  photographer, 
taken  after  hard  campaigns,  looks  more  like  a  man 
of  forty  than  one  of  twenty-four. 

Even  in  the  short  pauses  of  those  awful  days 
of  bloodshed  in  the  Civil  War,  the  General  and 
his  staff  after  an  engagement  begged  to  forget 
war  temporarily  and  became  rollicking,  fun-loving 
lads. 


PREFACE  vii 

The  "  boy  "  spirit  appeared  again  in  the  General 
in  his  love  of  picturesque  dress.  But  it  was  adopted 
also  with  the  more  serious  reason  that,  as  it  was 
distinguished  from  most  of  the  uniforms  by  its 
individuality,  it  would  render  it  impossible  for  any 
of  his  men  to  mistake  their  leader. 

There  was  youthful  bravado  also  in  wearing  the 
wide  sombrero  captured  from  a  Southern  soldier. 
Due  gratitude  was  given  to  this  very  hat  in  the 
Brady  picture,  when  in  charging  into  the  lines  of 
the  foe  he  was  taken  for  a  Confederate.  In  the 
blinding  dust  and  confusion  of  the  melee,  he  saved 
his  life  by  joining  in  the  countercharge  of  the 
enemy  into  his  own  ranks. 

The  flowing  red  tie  in  the  picture  was  appar 
ently  only  the  fancy  of  a  youth  for  bright  color, 
but  back  of  it  all  was  the  knowledge  that  the  bit 
of  floating  scarlet  would  be  a  beacon  to  his  soldiers 
in  the  murk  and  grime  and  chaos  of  thousands  of 
charging  horses  and  in  the  blind  fury  of  maddened 
men. 

That  General  Custer  has  a  historian  who  knew 
the  West  as  a  pioneer  in  the  seventies,  is  most 
fortunate. 

Mr.  Dellenbaugh  being  the  author  of  several 
books,  most  of  them  written  out  of  his  own  expe 
riences,  is  an  authority  on  western  life,  and  in 
narrating  the  history  of  the  Fremont  Expedition 


viii  PREFACE 

he  knew  by  heart  the  ground  traveled  over.  He 
was  the  artist  and  assistant  topographer  of  Major 
J.  W.  Powell's  expedition  in  1871-72  that  started 
in  rowboats,  far  north  on  the  Colorado  River  in 
Wyoming  and  continued  down  the  great  canyon 
to  the  Virgin  River  in  Nevada. 

The  Government  has  at  last  recognized  its  in 
debtedness  to  Major  Powell  and  his  valiant  follow 
ers,  by  erecting  a  bronze  tablet  bearing  a  bas-relief 
of  Powell  and  the  names  of  his  eleven  associates.  It 
is  placed  on  a  steep  and  jagged  bluff  of  the  Grand 
Canyon  of  Arizona,  five  thousand  feet  above  the 
tempestuous  river,  which  from  that  great  height 
looks  like  a  trailing  blue  ribbon. 

At  the  time  that  General  Custer  and  his  regi 
ment  were  scouting  in  the  Indian  Territory,  Kan 
sas,  and  Colorado,  and  afterwards  in  Dakota  and 
Montana,  there  was  only  one  railroad  across  the 
plains  —  the  Union  Pacific,  that  linked  the  Eastern 
with  the  Western  coast.  Prospectors  and  pioneers 
made  their  way  across  the  mapless  area  on  horse 
back  or  with  mule  or  ox  teams.  Our  little  army 
protected  the  settlers  from  Indians,  and  while  on 
this  duty  their  trails  extended  from  the  British  pos 
sessions  to  the  Mexican  border. 

Whatever  success  was  achieved  before  the  closing 
Indian  campaign  in  1877  was  brought  about  in 
this  unexplored  and  barren  waste  by  a  force  inferior 


PREFACE  ix 

in  numbers  to  the  Indians,  with  antiquated  firearms, 
and  without  an  adequate  base  of  supplies.  The 
Indians,  being  on  their  own  ground,  often  eluded 
the  troops  when  the  Government  sent  out  expedi 
tions  to  punish  them  for  outrages  on  white  settlers. 
Everything  was  against  a  successful  pursuit,  and 
finally  the  sacrifice  of  a  large  portion  of  the  Seventh 
Cavalry  and  their  leader,  in  the  battle  of  the  Little 
Big  Horn,  June  25,  1876,  aroused  our  country  to 
the  necessity  of  a  winter  campaign  under  General 
Miles,  in  1877,  with  a  sufficient  force,  modern  guns, 
and  a  large  base  of  supplies. 

This  last  success  subdued  the  Indians  and  opened 
the  way  to  venturesome  spirits  who  have  perfected 
systems  of  irrigation,  protected  the  water  courses, 
developed  mines,  and  guarded  and  utilized  the 
great  forests. 

The  story  of  the  heroes  to  whom  the  West  is 
indebted  is  being  told  in  verse,  in  romance,  and 
in  history.  Already  are  the  western  people  paying 
tribute  to  those  who  "  opened  the  way."^  Montana 
and  Wyoming  carried  out  a  large  and  successful 
celebration  of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  battle 
of  the  Little  Big  Horn  on  the  25th  of  June  of  this 
year.  Thousands  were  present.  Indians  who  were 
in  the  battle  and  those  of  the  Crow  Agency  took 
part  in  the  ceremonies. 

Hays,  Kansas,  has  set  aside  an  old  camp  of  the 


x  PREFACE 

Seventh  Cavalry  as  a  meeting-place  for  the  pupils 
of  the  schools  and  for  the  people  of  the  state. 
There  are  even  plans  afoot  for  a  memorial  of  the 
Battle  of  the  Washita  in  Kansas. 

The  children  of  the  men  who  now  enjoy  the 
peace  and  prosperity  of  that  vast,  rich,  and  pro 
ductive  country  will  know  through  their  parents 
the  names  of  civilians  and  soldiers  whom  they 
must  forever  honor. 

ELIZABETH   B.   CUSTER. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 


PAGB 

A  SOLDIER  BORN  i 


CHAPTER  II 
A  WEST  POINT  CADET 7 

CHAPTER  III 
AT  BULL  RUN *        .      14 

CHAPTER  IV 

ON   MCCLELLAN'S   STAFF       .  .  .  *  .  .22 

CHAPTER   V 
ON  A  SPECIAL  MISSION       .        .        ,       «       .        .35 

CHAPTER   VI 
FIGHTING  AT  GETTYSBURG  ......      42 

CHAPTER  VII 

AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  FIELD 52 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  VIII 

PAGE 

IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  VALLEY 63 

CHAPTER   IX 
CUSTER  AT  APPOMATTOX 71 

CHAPTER  X 
TEXAS  AND  MAXIMILIAN     .        .        .        .        .        .82 

CHAPTER  XI 
RED  MEN  AND  WHITE 89 

CHAPTER  XII 
RESTLESS  RED  MEN 99 

CHAPTER  XIII 
A  COURT-MARTIAL      .     •  .        .  .        .        .112 

CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA 120 

CHAPTER  XV 
FORCEFUL  MEASURES 133 

CHAPTER  XVI 
ATTACKED  BY  Sioux 146 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  XVII 

PACK 

EXPLORING  THE  BLACK  HILLS    .        .        .        .        .155 

CHAPTER   XVIII 
ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  Sioux 166 

CHAPTER  XIX 
CUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE 174 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PORTRAIT  OF  GENERAL  CUSTER          .        .       Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

STATUE  AT  MONROE,  MICHIGAN  ....  56 
A  TYPICAL  PLAINS  INDIAN  CAMP  ....  90 
SITTING  BULL  .  .  .  .  .  .  .150 

CUSTER'S  FIRST  GRIZZLY 162 

CHIEF  GALL  182 


GEORGE  ARMSTRONG 
CUSTER 

CHAPTER  I 
A  SOLDIER  BORN 

FEW  ride  as  Custer  did,  with  swift  certainty 
through  life ;  and  few  meet  their  sudden  end  so 
splendidly.  Down  the  span  of  his  brilliant  military 
career  he  passed  without  a  halt  in  success,  from  the 
first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  in  Virginia,  to  the  final 
dramatic  exit  at  the  battle  of  the  Little  Bighorn, 
in  Montana.  From  a  defeat  which  created  a  na 
tion,  to  a  defeat  marking  the  collapse  of  organized 
resistance  by  the  unfortunate  Plains  tribes,  he 
rode  as  if  some  invisible  shield  protected  him  till 
the  last  hour  struck  and  his  life  went  out,  as  a 
candle  is  extinguished  with  the  dawn. 

All  his  life  he  was  tireless.  Writing  to  his  wife 
from  the  Black  Hills  of  Dakota  he  says,  "  Bloody 
Knife  looks  on  in  wonder  at  me  because  I  never 


2  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

get  tired  and  says  no  other  man  could  ride  all 
night  and  never  sleep."  And  Bloody  Knife,  the 
famous  and  faithful  Arikara  warrior  and  govern 
ment  scout,  had  ridden  with  many  chiefs,  white 
and  red.  Through  all  campaigns  Custer  gave  him 
self  to  the  work  in  hand  as  freely,  and  with  the 
same  buoyancy  and  gladness,  as  a  boy  on  a  summer 
picnic. 

During  the  fifteen  years  between  the  two  mem 
orable  battles  cited,  he  found  opposed  to  him 
numerous  skillful  generals  of  the  enemy,  white 
and  red,  as  well  as  certain  selfish  schemers  and 
swindlers  who  were  filled  with  desire  for  revenge 
at  any  interference  with  their  nefarious  plans; 
and  finally  that  astute  and  crafty  ecclesiastical 
politician,  Sitting  Bull,  the  Cardinal  Wolsey  and 
Richelieu  of  the  powerful  Sioux  nation.  Of  all 
these  there  was  not  one  who  did  not  hold  Custer 
in  esteem  and  honor.  One,  General  Rosser  of 
the  Confederate  service,  a  classmate  and  chum 
at  West  Point,  fought  him  desperately  in  the  Civil 
War,  and  later,  in  the  mountains  of  Montana,  he 
became  again  Custer's  friend  and  companion. 

Custer  lived  only  to  the  age  of  thirty-seven. 
He  was  born  at  New  Rumley,  Ohio,  December  5, 
1839,  and  died  June  25,  1876,  at  the  Little  Bighorn 
in  Montana.  His  military  career  was  made  up 


A  SOLDIER  BORN  3 

of  three  distinct  periods:  first,  studying  at  West 
Point;  second,  serving  in  the  Civil  War;  and 
lastj  campaigning  against  the  Indians.  His  father 
was  a  Maryland  man ;  his  mother,  a  second  wife, 
was  a  widow  with  three  children.  When  she  married 
Emmanuel  H.  Custer,  he  also  had  three  children. 
Then  came  five  more  children,  —  George  Arm 
strong,  Nevin  J.,  Thomas  W.,  Boston,  and  Mar 
garet  Emma,  all  born  in  the  same  neighborhood. 

Young  Armstrong,  as  our  hero  was  called,  began 
his  military  experience  at  about  the  age  of  four, 
when  his  father,  being  a  member  of  the  local 
militia,  dressed  him  up  in  a  miniature  uniform  and 
took  him  on  the  parades  and  to  the  drills.  He  was 
so  quick  to  learn  that  every  one  found  pleasure  in 
drilling  him.  The  boy  felt  a  call  to  be  a  soldier 
almost  before  he  could  speak  plainly,  and  with  his 
experience  as  a  junior  member  of  the  New  Rumley 
militia,  his  first,  last,  and  only  ambition  was  to 
become  a  soldier.  Properly  to  accomplish  this  end 
he  would  be  obliged  to  enter  the  military  academy 
at  West  Point. 

He  was  educated  first  at  an  ordinary  school  in 
New  Rumley.  When  he  was  about  ten,  his  half- 
sister  Lydia  married  a  man  named  Reed  and  went 
to  Monroe,  Michigan,  to  live.  Monroe  was  a 
small  place,  Michigan  was  little  more  than  a  wil- 


4  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

derness  at  that  time,  and  Mrs.  Reed  was  lonely. 
Armstrong,  or  "Autie,"  was  sent  to  Monroe  to 
keep  her  company,  and  here  he  attended  the  Steb- 
bins  Academy.  His  sister  Mrs.  Reed,  then  and 
ever  after,  had  a  powerful  influence  over  him,  and 
Monroe  eventually  became  his  home.  To-day 
this  city  has  a  fine  monument  commemorating 
Custer's  services  to  his  country. 

On  his  second  visit  to  Monroe,  Custer  attended 
school  again,  remaining  till  he  was  sixteen,  when 
he  began  an  independent  career  as  a  teacher 
at  Hopedale,  Ohio,  near  New  Rumley.  At  the  end 
of  the  first  month,  with  great  pride  and  joy,  he 
took  home  his  entire  salary,  twenty-six  dollars,  and 
presented  it  to  his  mother.  Custer  was  always 
deeply  devoted  to  his  parents.  Many  years  after 
he  wrote  to  his  father,  "  There  is  not  a  day  but  I 
think  with  deep  gratitude  of  the  many  sacrifices, 
the  love  and  devotion,  you  and  Mother  have  con 
stantly  bestowed  upon  me."  Even  after  all  the 
rough  experience  of  the  Civil  War,  his  hardest 
trial  was  parting  from  his  mother.  "Such  part 
ings,"  says  his  wife,  "were  the  only  occasions  when 
I  saw  him  lose  entire  control  of  himself,  and  I  always 
looked  forward  to  the  hour  of  their  separation  with 
dread."  He  would  rush  out  of  the  house  sobbing 
like  a  child,  yet  he  never  allowed  his  love  for  his 


A  SOLDIER  BORN  5 

mother  to  interfere  with  his  duty.  He  was  always 
ready  for  whatever  service  he  was  appointed  to 
perform,  and  the  more  arduous  and  dangerous  that 
service  might  be,  the  better  he  liked  it.  As  with 
most  men  of  great  originality,  enthusiasm,  and  skill, 
he  was  always  more  successful  when  he  was  left 
to  execute  plans  in  his  own  way  and  at  his  own 
discretion. 

Custer  had  wonderfully  quick  intuition  and  fore 
sight.  His  mind  acted  instantaneously ;  he  decided 
quickly  on  a  course  of  action,  yet  he  was  no  more 
rash,  perhaps  not  so  rash,  as  a  slower  thinker.  He 
was  exceedingly  tender-hearted,  and  was  often 
much  saddened  by  the  misfortunes  of  others.  His 
appetite  was  dainty,  yet  like  many  men  of  his 
type,  he  " roughed  it"  without  a  murmur  and  put 
up  with  bad  food  where  some  less  carefully  reared 
grumbled  openly.  He  was  muscular,  athletic, 
vigorous,  and  not  fond  of  study  so  long  as  he  saw 
no  immediate  reason  for  it,  yet  let  his  mind  once 
realize  the  importance  of  learning  in  any  special 
field,  and  he  threw  himself  into  it  heart  and  soul. 

With  his  determination  to  enter  West  Point, 
Custer  early  began  planning  to  secure  an  appoint 
ment,  which  was  then,  as  now,  in  the  hands  of 
members  of  Congress.  The  member  from  his  home 
district,  being  of  the  opposite  political  faith  from 


6  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   CUSTER 

his  father,  the  latter  was  diffident  about  asking 
favors.  Custer  himself,  therefore,  wrote  to  the 
Hon.  John  A.  Bingham,  on  May  27,  1856,  from 
Hopedale,  requesting  information  as  to  the  method 
of  obtaining  an  appointment. 

Mr.  Bingham  replied  promptly  and  kindly. 
Another  boy  was  ahead  of  Custer  that  year,  and 
the  matter  was  dropped  till  Bingham  returned  from 
Washington,  when  Custer  ventured  to  call  upon 
him.  The  Congressman  promised  him  the  next 
year's  appointment.  The  summons  for  the  exami 
nation  came  in  due  time  and  found  Custer  prepared 
for  the  ordeal.  He  had  rilled  in  the  interval  with 
study.  Therefore,  when  in  1857,  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  and  some  months,  George  Armstrong 
Custer  stepped  off  the  steamer  at  the  foot  of  the 
bluff  in  the  Hudson  Highlands  on  which  the  West 
Point  Academy  is  so  delightfully  situated,  he  was 
there  to  stay  till  certain  ominous  events  should 
culminate  and  empty  the  military  training-school 
almost  overnight. 


CHAPTER  II 
A  WEST  POINT  CADET 

BEING  exceedingly  good-natured  and  companion 
able,  Custer,  with  little  trouble,  passed  through  the 
usual  hazing  experiences  and  all  other  difficulties 
pertaining  to  a  "plebe."  At  the  end  of  June  the 
cadets,  according  to  custom,  went  into  camp,  and 
this  was  Custer's  first  experience  in  that  outdoor 
life.  The  camp  was  not  far  off,  to  be  sure,  only 
at  the  end  of  the  Academy  reservation,  but  it  was 
real  tent  life  in  the  open,  with  military  drill,  for 
two  months,  and  Custer  received  the  first  training 
in  a  way  of  living  that  was  to  become  second  nature 
to  him.  The  open  air  thereafter  was  to  be  his  chief 
residence. 

During  these  days  he  was  still  only  a  bright  and 
frolicsome  youth  (he  never  ceased  being  bright  and 
frolicsome,  for  that  matter),  with  flaxen  hair. 
This  gave  him  a  slightly  feminine  appearance  and 
immediately  earned  for  him  the  nickname  of 
"Fanny/'  each  " plebe"  on  entering  being  given 

7 


8  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

some  comic  title  of  this  character.  Though  he  was 
called  "Fanny,"  there  was  nothing  feminine  about 
him  unless  it  was  the  delicacy  of  his  tastes  and  senti 
ments,  but  as  he  was  always  ready  to  exert 
" Fanny's"  brawn  and  muscle  on  any  who  offended 
his  sense  of  propriety  and  justice,  he  was  not 
interfered  with.  He  soon  excelled  in  the  athletic 
side  of  cadet  life,  and  having  been  taught  to  ride 
bareback  when  his  legs  could  hardly  straddle  a 
horse,  the  riding  required  was  no  task  for  him. 
He  excelled  in  everything  except  study ;  he  had  not 
yet  come  to  see  the  importance  of  much  of  the 
required  learning  and  took  little  interest  in  it. 

The  storm  brewing  between  the  Northern  and 
the  Southern  states  over  the  questions  of  state 
rights  and  slavery,  began  to  be  heard  even  in  this 
government  training-school  for  its  soldiers.  The 
cadets,  being  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  were 
divided  on  sectional  lines;  and  secession  talk 
common  in  the  South  was  naturally  reechoed  in 
the  halls  of  West  Point.  The  cadets  from  the 
South  were  deliberately  planning,  in  the  case  of  a 
break,  to  secure  positions  as  officers  in  the  Southern 
army  which  they  expected  would  be  organized. 

These  varied  political  feelings  did  not,  as  yet, 
alter  actual  friendships  to  any  great  extent;  in 
fact,  Custer  held  his  friendships  with  the  "rebel" 


A  WEST  POINT  CADET  9 

cadets  throughout  the  four  disastrous  years,  and 
even  beyond,  —  to  the  time  of  reestablished  peace. 
He  cites  a  conversation  with  one  of  them  at  table 
which  illustrates  conditions:  "Custer,  my  boy," 
spoke  P.  B.  M.  Young,  of  Georgia,  "we're  going  to 
have  war.  It's  no  use  talking,  I  see  it  coming. 
All  the  Crittenden  compromises  that  can  be  patched 
up  won't  avert  it.  Now  let  me  prophesy  what  will 
happen  to  you  and  to  me.  You  will  go  home  and 
your  Abolition  governor  will  probably  make  you 
colonel  of  a  cavalry  regiment.  I  will  go  down  to 
Georgia  and  ask  Governor  Brown  to  give  me  a 
cavalry  regiment.  And  who  knows  but  we  may 
move  against  each  other  during  the  war!"  This 
supposition  in  the  main  came  true.  Young  became 
a  major  general  in  the  Confederate  army. 

Before  the  end  of  the  usual  five-year  term,  the 
knell  of  war  sounded  from  the  walls  of  Fort  Sumter. 
Even  before  this,  some  Southern  states  had  adopted 
resolutions  of  secession,  deeming  that  the  original 
compact  between  the  states  was  not  intended  to  be 
final,  and  that  any  state  could  retire  if  it  chose  to 
do  so.  This  was  a  perfectly  honest  belief,  and  the 
men  who  entertained  it  were  ready  to  fight  for  their 
convictions.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Northern 
states  held  that  the  union  was  not  dissoluble ;  that 
it  was  a  compact  for  all  time.  They,  too,  were 


io  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

honest  in  their  conviction,  and  they  were  ready  to 
fight  for  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  The 
Northern  people  desired  the  abolition  of  human 
slavery.  The  Southern  people  said  the  work  of 
the  South  could  not  be  carried  on  without  slaves, 
and  that  it  was  a  pretty  time  to  talk  about  abolish 
ing  slavery  after  the  Northern  slave-owners  had 
sold  their  slaves  for  good  gold. 

As  the  crucial  time  approached,  it  became  neces 
sary  to  fill  the  ranks  of  officers  loyal  to  the  Northern 
cause  from  the  loyal  cadets  at  West  Point.  The 
cadets  listed  as  disloyal  claimed  that  up  to  this  time 
West  Point  had  been  a  school  for  the  whole  country, 
for  every  state,  and  that  they  were  not  disloyal  when 
they  sided  with  their  own  states. 

Lincoln  was  now  to  be  inaugurated  and  there 
were  rumors  of  trouble  at  Washington.  In  the 
previous  administration  the  Southerners  had  done 
all  they  could  to  cripple  the  military  resources 
of  the  government,  and  there  was  a  shortage  of 
war  material.  In  this  emergency,  the  government 
hastily  patched  together  a  battery  out  of  "  instruc 
tion  cannon"  kept  at  West  Point,  and  sent  it  down 
to  take  part  in  the  inauguration  ceremonies. 

The  assault  on  Sumter  came,  and  like  the  pistol- 
shot  which  signals  the  start  of  a  race,  the  war 
between  the  states,  North  and  South,  was  on. 


A  WEST  POINT  CADET  n 

But  it  was  a  war  which  the  North  thought  would 
soon  be  squelched.  It  was  looked  upon  as  some 
thing  like  a  big  riot.  It  had  to  be  met.  There  had 
to  be  more  officers.  Cadets  were  needed.  Ac 
cordingly  the  course  at  West  Point,  heretofore 
five  years,  was  shortened  to  four,  which  made  it 
possible  to  graduate  two  classes  in  1861  instead  of 
one,  as  would  have  been  usual.  The  regular  class 
graduated  in  April,  Custer's  class  in  June.  Almost 
all  of  the  graduates  were  ordered  at  once  to  Wash 
ington  to  drill  the  raw  recruits  and  assist  in  general 
army  organization. 

Custer  was  an  exception  to  the  order  because  he 
had  been  delinquent  as  to  regulations  and  also  as 
to  study.  "My  offenses  against  law  and  order," 
he  declared,  "were  not  great  in  enormity,  but  what 
they  lacked  in  magnitude  they  made  up  in  number. 
The  forbidden  locality  of  Benny  Havens  possessed 
stronger  attractions  than  the  study  and  demonstra 
tion  of  a  problem  in  Euclid." 

At  length  Custer's  detention  for  contempt  of 
Euclid  was  to  end.  With  the  men  of  his  class  he 
went  to  summer  camp  in  the  usual  course,  all  daily 
expecting  to  be  ordered  to  Washington,  when  it 
fell  to  Custer  to  perform  the  duties  of  officer  of  the 
guard.  Near  dusk  he  was  attracted  by  a  commo 
tion  which  proved  to  be  due  to  a  quarrel  between 


12  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

two  cadets  which  developed  into  a  fist  fight.  In 
stead  of  performing  his  severe  duty  as  officer  of  the 
guard,  Custer,  deeply  interested,  thrust  aside  those 
who  were  interfering  and  cried,  "  Stand  back,  boys ; 
let's  have  a  fair  fight !" 

At  this  moment  Hazen,  officer  of  the  day,  came 
along  and  demanded  to  know  why  Custer  had  not 
suppressed  "the  riot,"  which  was  the  first  time  it 
had  occurred  to  Custer  that  it  had  been  anything 
of  that  kind.  He  was  put  under  arrest,  the  facts 
were  reported  to  Washington,  and  a  court-martial 
asked  for  to  determine  the  degree  of  punishment. 
Evidently  Hazen  was  not  a  warm  personal  friend  of 
Custer. 

A  few  hours  later  the  order  arrived  for  Custer's 
class  to  report  at  Washington  for  duty  —  and 
Custer's  name  was  omitted!  He  was  brought 
before  the  court-martial  with  solemn  gravity.  Of 
course  he  had  nothing  to  do  but  plead  guilty  to  the 
charge  of  failing  to  suppress  a  riot  and  of  saying, 
"  Stand  back,  boys ;  let's  have  a  fair  fight ! "  The 
case  went  to  Washington  for  decision.  There  some 
of  his  classmates  had  influential  friends  who  suc 
cessfully  interceded  for  his  liberation.  A  few  days 
after  the  trial,  the  superintendent  of  the  West 
Point  Military  Academy  received  a  telegram 
directing  the  release  of  Custer  and  ordering  him  to 


A  WEST  POINT  CADET  13 

report  for  duty  to  the  adjutant  general  in  Wash 
ington. 

And  Custer,  Second  Lieutenant  in  the  United 
States  Army,  left  West  Point  on  July  18,  1861, 
bound  for  the  front  if  he  could  get  there. 


CHAPTER  III 
AT  BULL  RUN 

IN  passing  through  New  York,  Lieutenant  Custer 
stopped  an  hour  or  two  to  buy  some  articles  neces 
sary  for  his  prospective  campaign,  took  the  night 
train,  and  alighted  in  Washington  early  on  the 
morning  of  July  20,  1861.  He  went  at  once  to  the 
Ebbitt  House  where  he  discovered  that  a  cadet 
named  Parker,  a  chum  and  classmate,  was  regis 
tered.  He  went  to  Parker's  room  and  found  him 
still  in  bed,  and,  although  Parker  was  one  of  the 
Southern  group,  he  was  glad  to  see  him.  Parker 
was  from  Missouri.  He  had  remained  at  the 
Academy  to  graduate  and  get  his  diploma  and  then 
had  offered  his  resignation.  The  government's 
reply  was  an  order  which  lay  on  the  table,  dismis 
sing  him  from  the  army.  He  went  over  to  the  Con 
federacy  as  he  had  planned  and  received  a  commis 
sion  in  that  army.  Custer  reported  for  duty  with 
the  United  States  army  at  the  office  of  the  adjutant 
general. 

14 


AT  BULL  RUN  15 

It  was  a  busy  time,  and  two  o'clock  in  the  morn 
ing  came  and  passed  before  Custer  was  admitted. 
The  adjutant  general  glanced  at  the  instructions 
which  he  presented,  and  after  a  moment's  hesita 
tion  suggested  that  he  might  like  to  be  presented 
to  General  Scott.  Scott  was  then  commander  of 
the  army  and  the  most  respected  and  distinguished 
soldier  in  the  country.  The  new  second  lieutenant 
was  rather  awed  at  the  prospect  of  meeting  him, 
but  he  followed  to  General  Scott's  room  with  a 
brave  front. 

The  general  was  talking  with  some  congressmen 
about  the  battle  which  was  expected  to  take  place. 
The  adjutant  general  said,  "General,  this  is  Lieu 
tenant  Custer  of  the  Second  Cavalry ;  he  has  just 
reported  from  West  Point  and  I  did  not  know  but 
that  you  might  have  some  special  orders  to  give 
him." 

Shaking  Custer  by  the  hand  most  cordially,  Scott 
welcomed  him  to  the  service,  and  after  finding  that 
he  had  been  assigned  to  Company  G,  Second  Cav 
alry,  under  Major  Innes  Palmer  with  General  Mc 
Dowell,  inquired  if  he  would  prefer  to  report  for 
drilling  volunteers  or  to  do  something  more  active. 

Although  Custer  was  little  interested  in  Euclid, 
he  was  eager  to  learn  all  about  war  and  military 
life.  "I  ventured  to  stammer  out,"  he  says,  "that 


1 6  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

I  earnestly  desired  to  be  ordered  to  at  once  join 
my  company,  as  I  was  anxious  to  see  active  service." 

"A  very  commendable  resolution,  young  man," 
was  Scott's  comment.  He  directed  orders  to  be 
made  out  for  Custer  to  join  his  company  in  the  field. 
Then  something  came  into  his  mind.  "Have  you 
a  horse?"  he  inquired.  Receiving  a  negative 
reply,  he  said,  "  Secure  one,  and  call  at  seven  this 
evening  for  dispatches  for  General  McDowell." 

Custer  was  proud  to  be  selected  for  this  important 
mission  and  left  wondering  where  the  horse  was  to 
come  from.  After  a  vain  search  he  chanced  to 
meet  a  soldier  of  Griffin's  Battery  who  at  one  time 
had  been  stationed  at  West  Point.  This  man  was 
in  Washington  to  take  to  the  front  an  extra  horse 
belonging  to  the  battery.  He  consented  to  let 
Custer  ride  it  and  also  to  defer  his  start  till  after 
seven.  He  would  be  in  waiting  with  the  horse 
saddled.  At  the  appointed  time,  with  no  other 
baggage  but  the  dispatches  and  such  things  as  he 
could  carry  on  his  person,  Custer  was  at  the  place. 
To  his  surprise  and  delight  he  found  that  the  horse 
he  was  to  ride  was  one  he  had  often  used  at  West 
Point.  It  was  known  as  "Wellington." 

Steadily  riding  through  the  darkness,  they 
arrived,  between  two  and  three  in  the  morning,  at 
Centerville,  the  place  where  the  Union  army  was 


AT  BULL  RUN  17 

preparing  for  the  advance  which  was  to  strike  terror 
into  the  hearts  of  the  hosts  of  the  South.  Break 
fast  was  over  even  thus  early.  The  soldiers  were 
lying  about,  napping. or  smoking  or  chatting  to  fill 
in  the  time.  There  was  small  respect  as  yet  for 
orders  and  regulations.  Custer's  companion  picked 
a  way  among  the  groups  to  a  cluster  of  tents  with  a 
log  fire  burning  near.  This  was  McDowell's  head 
quarters  and  Custer  expected  to  hand  the  dispatches 
with  some  pride  to  the  general  himself,  but  before 
he  could  do  so,  Major  Wadsworth,  of  the  staff, 
relieved  him  of  them.  Returning,  he  asked  Custer 
to  dismount  and  have  breakfast.  Custer  was  only 
twenty-one,  and  fearing  it  would  appear  like  weak 
ness  to  be  hungry,  he  declined,  but  a  few  moments 
later  he  saw  this  would  not  do,  and  gladly  accepted 
a  similar  invitation  from  a  West  Point  friend, 
Lieutenant  Kingsbury,  McDowell's  aid-de-camp. 
Steak,  corn  bread,  and  coffee  formed  this  first  meal 
in  the  field,  and  it  was  the  last  morsel  Custer  ate 
for  another  thirty  hours. 

The  Confederate  forces  under  Beauregard  were 
at  Manassas,  seven  miles  away,  both  lines  being 
near  a  stream  called  Bull  Run.  It  may  be  well  to 
state  here  that  the  region  between  Washington  and 
Richmond  (the  latter  having  been  chosen  as  the 
Confederate  capital)  was  traversed  by  numerous 
c 


1 8  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   OUSTER 

streams  of  considerable  size,  flowing  diagonally,  or 
southeast,  to  the  Potomac  River  and  to  Chesa 
peake  Bay.  Many  of  these  streams  headed  well 
up  to  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  which,  running 
southwest  from  Harper's  Ferry  on  the  Potomac, 
formed  one  side  of  a  triangle  of  which  the  Potomac 
and  Chesapeake  Bay  were  the  other  side,  Harper's 
Ferry  being  at  the  apex,  and  the  James  River,  on 
which  Richmond  was  situated,  being  the  base.  A 
large  part  of  the  fighting  of  the  Civil  War  took 
place  in  this  triangle.  Just  beyond  the  Blue  Ridge 
was  the  long,  easy  Shenandoah  Valley,  by  which 
the  Confederates  made  threatening  advances  on 
Washington  and  the  Northern  states. 

The  railways  converging  at  Manassas  Junction 
were  important.  Scott  planned  to  turn  the  flank 
of  Beauregard's  army  and  defeat  him,  thus  gaining 
control  of  the  railways.  Scott  was  in  no  hurry  to 
make  this  move  as  his  troops  were  inadequate  and 
untrained,  but  the  newspapers  were  clamoring  and 
something  had  to  be  done.  Beauregard,  on  his 
part,  was  planning  to  turn  the  flank  of  the  Northern 
army,  under  McDowell,  and  open  a  way  to  Wash 
ington,  only  thirty  miles  distant. 

It  was  considered  a  foregone  conclusion  that 
the  Northern  army  would  easily  triumph.  Many 
civilians  and  members  of  Congress  drove  out  in 


AT  BULL  RUN  19 

carriages  to  witness  the  coming  battle  and  the  dis 
comfiture  of  the  enemy. 

It  was  still  dark  when  Custer,  having  finished  his 
breakfast,  remounted  and  found  his  company  and 
regiment.  He  introduced  himself  to  Lieutenant 
Drummond,  in  command,  and  met  the  other  officers. 
Moving  on  at  last,  the  column  presently  halted 
again.  The  sound  of  a  battle  raging  just  ahead  of 
them  was  now  plainly  heard.  Ordered  to  the  sup 
port  of  Griffin's  Battery,  Custer  could  hear  the 
vicious  hiss  of  hostile  cannon  balls,  which  impressed 
him  as  something  quite  different  from  the  noise 
made  by  the  "practice  cannon"  at  West  Point. 
Protected  by  a  hill  from  the  enemy-fire,  they 
mounted  the  hill,  expecting  to  make  a  charge. 
With  another  youth,  the  latter  appointed  from  civil 
life,  Custer  speculated  as  to  the  kind  of  weapon  to 
use.  As  Custer  was  from  West  Point,  the  civilian 
recruit  took  it  for  granted  that  he  knew  all  about 
war,  and  whatever  Custer  did,  he  did.  Custer 
himself  being  very  much  at  sea,  changed  from  re 
volver  to  saber  and  saber  to  revolver  several  times, 
the  greenhorn  following  each  move.  But  there  was 
no  charge  after  all.  When  the  cavalry  reached  the 
summit  and  remained  for  a  time  under  a  hot  fire, 
there  was  no  prospect  of  the  enemy  attacking  the 
battery,  and  the  cavalry  fell  back. 


20  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Custer  and  a  classmate  stood  on  a  hill,  viewing 
the  scene  and  rejoicing  over  the  evident  victory, 
when  suddenly,  out  of  some  timber,  they  saw  a  long 
line  of  troops  appear  in  the  rear  of  the  Union  forces. 
Coming  up  in  this  direction,  these  troops  were  sup 
posed  to  belong  to  the  Union  forces,  and  Griffin's 
Battery,  which  could  have  annihilated  them, 
reserved  fire.  Then  the  colors  of  the  Confederacy 
broke  out  on  the  wind,  and  the  next  instant  a  volley 
was  sent  into  the  very  backs  of  the  advancing  Union 
troops.  At  the  same  moment  an  enemy-battery, 
which  had  arrived  unseen,  opened  fire.  A  cry  of 
" We're  flanked!"  ran  down  the  Union  lines,  only 
a  moment  before  on  the  point  of  victory.  They 
were  seized  by  a  panic,  threw  down  their  arms,  and 
began  a  disordered  flight,  with  the  exception  of  the 
regulars.  Officers  and  men  joined  in  one  vast 
mob  whose  only  impulse  was  to  get  back  to  Wash 
ington.  Custer  declares  that  some  never  stopped 
running  till  they  arrived  in  New  York  !  For  miles 
the  roar  of  the  flight  could  be  heard ;  for  miles  the 
muddy  road  was  encumbered  and  clogged  with 
abandoned  wagons,  ambulances,  and  carriages. 

Custer's  company  and  one  other  fell  under  the 
personal  command  of  Major  Heintzelman,  a  regular, 
who,  though  wounded,  sat  his  horse  and  moved  the 
men  off  the  field  in  proper  order ;  the  last  organized 


AT  BULL  RUN  21 

troops  to  retire.  McDowell  tried  to  halt  the  mob 
at  Centreville  but  it  was  impossible,  so  he  directed 
his  efforts  to  stopping  it  at  the  Potomac  bridge. 

On  the  other  hand  Jefferson  Davis,  president  of 
the  Confederacy,  coming  to  the  front,  thought  all 
was  lost,  for  the  Southerners,  also,  appeared  to  be 
beaten  though  they  were  less  demoralized  than  their 
enemy. 

Custer  declares  that  neither  then  nor  at  any  sub 
sequent  period  did  he  "ever  lose  or  lessen  his  faith, 
his  firm  belief  and  conviction,  that  the  cause  of  the 
Union  was  destined  in  the  end  to  triumph  over  all 
obstacles  and  opposition."  The  Washington  gov 
ernment  had  yet  to  learn  that  it  is  the  general  in 
the  field,  not  the  newspapers  and  politicians,  who 
must  conduct  a  war. 

Custer  was  rather  used  up  by  lack  of  food  and 
exertion.  He  had  ridden  nearly  all  the  night  before 
and  rode  back  the  next  night  with  his  defeated 
comrades.  When  he  reached  Arlington  Heights, 
early  in  the  forenoon,  he  quickly  threw  himself 
under  a  tree  where  he  fell  asleep,  "despite  the  rain, 
the  mud,  and  the  confusion,"  and  slept  for  hours. 
So  ended  his  first  lesson  in  war. 


CHAPTER  IV 

ON  McCLELLAN'S   STAFF 

AFTER  a  few  days  at  Arlington,  the  company  to 
which  Custer  belonged  was  sent  down  the  Potomac 
to  Alexandria,  where  General  Phil  Kearny  soon 
arrived  to  command  a  brigade  of  volunteers  to 
which  Ouster's  company  was  assigned.  Kearny 
had  no  staff  officers  and  applied  to  Ouster's  com 
manding  officer,  who  had  three,  for  Custer,  who  was 
accordingly  detailed  as  aid-de-camp  to  Kearny. 
This  advance  was  agreeable  and  exhilarating  and 
was  no  doubt  the  best  thing  that  could  have  hap 
pened  to  Custer  at  this  time,  for  Kearny  was  a  man 
of  great  distinction  and  experience,  and  withal  an 
exceedingly  rigid  disciplinarian.  He  had  traveled 
the  world  over,  had  studied  tactics  in  foreign 
armies,  had  served  in  the  Mexican  War  and  then 
in  France  under  Napoleon  III,  where  he  was  com 
mended  by  the  French  military  authorities. 
Kearny  was  constantly  endeavoring  to  improve 
his  command  and  to  accomplish  the  best  results. 

22 


ON  McCLELLAN'S  STAFF  23 

An  early  scheme  of  his  was  a  plan  to  capture  one  of 
the  principal  picket  posts  of  the  enemy,  located 
about  five  miles  from  headquarters. 

Three  hundred  picked  men  were  chosen  for  this 
venture,  with  Lieutenant  Colonel  Buck  in  command 
and  Custer  attached  as  headquarters  representative. 
The  chosen  night  was  made  brilliant  by  a  clear 
moon.  The  troops,  stripped  of  every  unnecessary 
article,  marched  stealthily  toward  their  object. 
Sometimes  they  went  along  a  road,  sometimes 
through  woods,  arriving  finally  at  one  end  of  a  long 
lane  where  a  house  located  at  the  other  end  was 
their  special  goal.  Halting  for  renewed  instruc 
tions,  they  again  crept  silently  on  till  voices  were 
heard.  The  moon  emerged  at  this  moment  from 
clouds. 

"Who  conies  there?"  was  the  challenge,  followed 
by  three  rifle  shots. 

"I  am  sure,"  remarks  Custer,  "that  while  we 
all  may  have  been  facing  toward  the  house  when 
the  first  shot  was  fired,  we  were  not  only  facing 
but  moving  in  the  opposite  direction  before  the 
sound  of  the  last  one  reached  our  ears.  I  presume, 
too,  that  the  fellows  who  fired  the  shots  ran  in  the 
opposite  direction  faster  than  we  did."  The  force 
had  nothing  left  to  do  but  to  go  home.  An  order 
prohibiting  regular  officers  from  serving  on  the 


24     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

staffs  of  volunteer  officers  terminated  Custer's 
service  under  Kearny,  as  the  latter  was  a  volunteer, 
but  the  impression  on  the  young  West  Pointer  was 
already  made  and  doubtless  served  him  well  ever 
after. 

The  defeat  at  Bull  Run  resulted  in  the  retirement 
of  General  Scott,  and  a  new  man  was  set  up  for  the 
manipulation  of  the  newspapers  and  the  civilians 
in  Washington.  He  was  a  West  Point  graduate 
of  1846,  had  served  in  the  Mexican  War,  and  had 
met  with  success  in  West  Virginia.  This  was  Gen 
eral  George  B.  McClellan.  He  took  command 
November  i,  1861.  He  was  a  skillful  organizer 
and  began  to  whip  his  raw  material  into  shape  till 
the  Army  of  the  Potomac  became  the  one  really 
military  body  in  the  country.  Custer's  company 
was  transferred  from  Alexandria  to  Cliff  burn,  just 
east  of  Washington,  and  in  October  Custer,  because 
of  illness,  obtained  leave  of  absence  and  went  to 
Monroe. 

Heretofore  Custer  had  been  a  strict  abstainer 
from  alcoholic  drinks,  but  the  army  life  was  a  great 
demoralizer  of  young  men.  There  was  much  hard 
drinking  then  and  afterward.  Custer  had,  un 
fortunately,  learned  to  take  stimulants,  and  one 
night,  while  at  home,  it  was  evident  that  he  had 
taken  too  much.  His  half-sister  Mrs.  Reed,  who 


ON  McCLELLAN'S  STAFF  25 

was  almost  a  second  mother  to  him,  made  him  a 
teetotaler  that  night  and  ever  after;  and  in  later 
years  he  performed  the  same  service  for  some  of  his 
fellow-officers.  In  February,  1862,  he  returned  to 
his  regiment,  the  Fifth  United  States  Cavalry,  under 
General  Stoneman. 

Another  advance  was  made  on  Manassas  Junc 
tion  in  the  effort  to  get  control  of  the  railways,  and 
Stoneman  was  ordered  to  push  a  large  force  along 
the  line  of  the  Orange  and  Alexandria  Railway, 
to  determine  the  enemy's  position  and  drive  him 
back.  The  enemy-pickets  were  discovered  at 
Catlett's  Station  on  a  hill  about  a  mile  away. 
Stoneman  sent  an  order  to  drive  them  in.  Through 
the  absence  at  that  time  of  the  captain  and  first 
lieutenant  of  his  company,  Custer  was  in  command. 
He  saw  a  chance  for  action  and  requested  to  be 
permitted  to  execute  the  order  with  his  company. 
This  was  readily  granted. 

He  advanced  his  men  to  the  foot  of  the  hill  and 
there,  for  the  first  time  in  his  life,  gave  the  com 
mand  which  he  so  frequently  gave  later : 

"Charge!" 

The  pickets  did  not  wait  to  see  what  would  hap 
pen  next  but  hurried  away  over  a  bridge  across 
Cedar  Run,  and  then  set  the  bridge  on  fire.  Custer 
led  his  men  after  them  but  had  to  stop  at  the 


26      GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

flaming  bridge.  The  enemy,  safe  on  the  other  side, 
sent  some  shots  back  which  were  returned.  Only 
one  of  Custer's  men  was  hit  and  he  was  but  slightly 
injured  on  the  head.  Wounds  were  uncommon  as 
yet,  and  private  Bryaud  was  the  object  of  much 
interest.  Custer  says,  "It  was  a  question  whether 
private  Bryaud  suffered  most  from  his  wound  or 
from  the  numerous  and  inquiring  visits  of  enter 
prising  representatives  of  the  press,  each  anxious 
and  determined  to  gather  and  record  for  his  partic 
ular  journal  all  the  details  connected  with  the  shed 
ding  of  the  first  blood  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac." 
McClellan  was  now  permitted  to  carry  out  his 
plan  of  attacking  the  enemy  by  way  of  "the  Penin 
sula,"  that  is  to  say,  by  way  of  the  tongue  of  land 
lying  between  the  York  and  the  James  rivers. 
Landing  his  troops  near  Fortress  Monroe,  he 
arrived  there  himself  on  the  2d  of  April,  1862. 
Here  58,000  men  were  moved  forward  at  once  on 
Yorktown,  which  had  been  fortified  by  the  Con 
federates  with  earthworks  running  across  the  pen 
insula  and  manned  by  about  13,000  soldiers. 
McClellan's  force  was  thus  greatly  superior  to  that 
of  the  enemy,  but  he  did  not  know  it  and  so  began 
a  siege  of  the  place.  In  the  course  of  these  opera 
tions,  Custer  was  assigned  to  the  work  of  construct 
ing  and  occupying  a  rifle  pit  at  the  nearest  point 


ON  McCLELLAN'S  STAFF  27 

to  the  enemy's  line,  separated  only  by  the  Warwick 
River,  four  or  five  hundred  feet  wide. 

In  carrying  out  this  project,  the  voices  of  the 
enemy  could  plainly  be  heard  at  night,  so  Custer's 
men  were  allowed  barely  to  whisper.  A  hundred 
worked  with  shovels  in  the  sandy  soil,  and  be 
fore  daylight  the  pit  was  so  far  completed  that 
it  could  be  occupied.  This  was  done  by  two  corps 
of  Berdan's  sharpshooters. 

Their  business  was  to  silence  a  battery  which  had 
become  troublesome,  and  this  was  accomplished. 
Custer  was,  at  this  time,  assistant  to  Lieutenant 
Bo  wen,  but  in  addition  he  was  ordered  to  make 
balloon  ascensions  for  observation  purposes.  A 
"captive"  balloon  was  used,  with  a  professional 
aeronaut,  named  Lowe,  who  did  the  operating. 
At  first  the  aeronaut  was  relied  on  for  the  desired 
information,  but  such  reports  were  uncertain, 
owing  to  his  lack  of  military  knowledge.  Con 
sequently  it  was  determined  that  an  officer  must 
ascend  with  Lowe.  Custer  was  chosen.  He  had 
never  been  up  in  a  balloon,  even  to  the  compara 
tively  low  altitude  of  a  thousand  'feet  to  which  this 
captive  balloon  was  allowed  to  mount,  and  Custer 
received  the  order  with  no  little  trepidation.  He 
remarked  that  the  proposed  ride  was  far  more 
elevated  than  he  had  ever  desired  or  contemplated. 


28  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

General  Porter,  it  seems,  had  recently  tried  ascend 
ing  alone  when  the  holding-rope  broke,  and  he 
was  being  carried  toward  the  enemy's  lines  when 
he  coolly  pulled  the  valve  and  made  the  descent. 
This  was  accomplished  somewhat  too  rapidly  for 
comfort,  but  the  intrepid  passenger  was  not  hurt. 

Custer  went  to  the  place  where  the  balloon  was 
tethered  "like  a  wild  and  untamable  animal" 
and  examined  it.  "Professor"  Lowe  inquired  if 
he  wished  to  go  up  alone.  "My  desire,  frankly 
expressed,"  he  says,  "would  have  been  not  to  go 
up  at  all ;  but  if  I  was  to  go,  company  was  certainly 
desirable.  With  an  attempt  at  indifference,  I 
intimated  that  he  might  go  along." 

Custer  took  his  place  in  the  basket,  and  before  he 
was  fully  aware  of  it  he  found  himself  ascending 
toward  the  clouds,  firmly  grasping  the  sides  of  the 
frail  support.  When  asked  if  the  basket  was  safe, 
the  aeronaut  proved  it  by  jumping  up  and  down  in 
it.  Gradually  the  novice  became  accustomed  to  the 
situation  and  the  seemingly  flimsy  support  of  the 
basket,  and  began  making  observations.  After 
this  he  went  up  almost  daily,  sometimes  at  night, 
sometimes  at  daybreak. 

On  the  night  of  May  3,  he  made  an  ascent  in  the 
dark  and  another  just  before  reveille.  From  what 
he  saw  he  believed  that  the  enemy  had  evacuated 


ON  McCLELLAN'S  STAFF  29 

his  works.  Two  contrabands  who  had  just  arrived 
reported  the  condition  which  Custer's  observations 
confirmed,  and  an  advance  of  the  army  was  imme 
diately  ordered. 

Custer  obtained  permission  to  tender  his  services 
for  the  day  to  General  Hancock,  an  offer  which  was 
accepted;  "and  in  this  way,"  Custer  says,  "a 
personal  association  with  the  battle  of  Williams- 
burg  was  enjoyed  which  otherwise  would  not  have 
been  probable. "  Hancock  gave  Custer  special 
mention  in  his  report  on  the  battle  of  Williamsburg. 
He  sent  the  Fifth  Wisconsin  into  action,  preceded 
by  skirmishers  and  "  followed  by  the  Sixth  Maine  in 
column  of  assault  across  the  dam  and  into  the  work, 
Lieutenant  Custer,  Fifth  Regular  Cavalry,  vol 
unteering  and  leading  the  way  on  horseback. " 

At  this  time  Custer  was  generally  oblivious  of 
his  personal  appearance.  His  dress  was  distin 
guished  only  by  its  carelessness.  His  loose  cavalry 
jacket,  mud-bespattered,  bore  no  sign  of  rank; 
and  his  long,  flaxen  hair  floated  out  from  under  a 
broad  slouch  hat.  He  was  not  thinking  of  his  dress 
but  of  the  work  in  hand. 

From  Williamsburg  the  advance  was  continued 
to  near  Richmond  where  the  Chickahominy  River 
barred  progress.  McClellan  established  headquar 
ters  about  a  mile  from  this  river,  May  22,  1862, 


30     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

and  wanted  to  know  its  depth  and  other  facts  con 
cerning  it.  General  Barnard,  Chief  of  Engineers, 
made  a  reconnoissance.  On  the  second  day, 
catching  sight  of  Custer  near  by,  he  hailed  him  and 
together  they  went  to  the  stream  through  a  swamp. 
They  reached  the  edge  of  the  darkly-flowing  water. 
"Jump  in!"  said  Barnard,  and  Custer  jumped, 
with  his  revolver  drawn  and  ready.  Wading  across, 
he  climbed  out  and  peered  through  the  branches  of 
the  little  trees  that  bordered  the  stream.  Not  far 
away  he  saw  the  pacing  sentry  of  the  enemy.  He 
carefully  examined  the  whole  situation  before  he 
responded  to  Barnard's  signals  for  caution  and 
return. 

General  Barnard  took  him  back  to  McClellan's 
headquarters  where  they  met  the  general  just 
starting  on  his  round  of  inspection.  Custer, 
awaiting  his  release,  fell  to  the  rear,  feeling  shabby 
and  bedraggled,  wet  and  muddy,  as  he  had  come  out 
of  the  water,  but  Barnard  told  McClellan  about 
him  and  he  was  brought  up  before  all  the  officers. 
General  McClellan  was  too  much  of  a  gentleman 
even  to  suggest  that  the  young  officer  was  not  in 
parade  costume,  and  remarked  that  he  wanted  to 
know  what  Custer  had  seen. 

Custer  was  too  much  interested  in  conveying  the 
information  to  give  much  thought  to  his  clothes, 


ON  McCLELLAN'S  STAFF  31 

and  he  told  the  general  with  enthusiasm  how  easily 
he  believed  the  pickets  might  be  captured.  The 
general  listened  in  silence.  When  Custer  had 
finished  he  said,  "Do  you  know,  you're  just  the 
young  man  I've  been  looking  for,  Mr.  Custer. 
How  would  you  like  to  come  on  my  staff?" 

To  be  suddenly  asked  to  join  the  staff  of  the 
commander  in  chief  was  enough  completely  to 
overcome  a  subaltern  of  only  twenty-two,  and  all 
Custer  could  say  was,  "You  don't  really  mean  it, 
General!" 

But  McClellan  really  did  mean  it,  and  Custer 
became  an  officer  on  his  staff,  with  the  rank  of 
captain.  He  at  once  asked  to  be  allowed  to  capture 
the  rebel  pickets  he  had  seen,  and  McClellan  ordered 
two  companies  of  cavalry  and  one  of  infantry  to  be 
placed  at  his  command  for  the  purpose.  He  had 
noticed  that  the  picket  station  was  in  a  bend  of  the 
stream  and  could  easily  be  cut  off;  so  with  his 
troops,  among  whom  were  discovered  some  old 
Monroe  friends,  he  made  a  very  early  start,  and 
himself  struck  into  the  water  ahead  of  all.  Just 
before  sunrise  he  reached  his  desired  position  and 
opened  fire,  making  a  complete  success  of  the  ven 
ture.  With  arms  and  prisoners,  and  also  an  enemy- 
flag  that  he  had  personally  captured  —  the  first 
taken  by  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  —  he  returned 


32  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

in  triumph,  although  the  cavalry  support  had  not 
carried  out  his  directions. 

McClellan's  left  wing  was  now  thrown  across 
the  Chickahominy,  while  his  right  cleared  the  way 
for  a  juncture  with  McDowell's  40,000  men,  as 
planned  to  arrive  from  Fredericksburg.  But 
McDowell  was  called  off  by  Washington  for  defense 
of  the  capital.  Nevertheless,  a  part  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  got  within  five  or  six  miles  of  Rich 
mond.  Then  came  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks  and  the 
Seven  Days'  Battle,  with  Malvern  Hill,  which 
terminated,  unsuccessfully,  McClellan's  campaign 
on  the  Peninsula.  During  the  latter  days,  Custer 
and  his  friend,  Lieutenant  Bowen,  while  reconnoiter- 
ing,  suddenly  turned  on  some  pursuers  and  captured 
them  one  by  one ;  but  not  being  able  to  take  them 
in,  they  merely  relieved  them  of  their  arms,  and  so 
returned  to  camp  laden  with  sabers,  carbines, 
revolvers,  and  other  booty,  to  the  great  amusement 
of  their  comrades. 

On  another  occasion,  Custer  went  out  with  his 
regiment  and  some  other  troops  for  about  twenty 
miles,  surprised  an  enemy-regiment  and  captured 
many  of  them.  Some  who  were  well  mounted 
rode  so  fast  as  to  escape.  Custer  had  a  specially 
fine  mount  and,  separated  from  his  regiment 
with  only  a  bugler  boy,  suddenly  heard  the 


ON  McCLELLAN'S  STAFF  33 

boy  call,  "  Cap  tain,  Captain,  here  are  two  secesh 
after  me!" 

The  two  " secesh"  fled  on  Custer's  coming  up, 
and  then  he  and  the  little  bugler  became  the  pur 
suers  instead  of  the  pursued.  Custer  captured 
one  " secesh"  and  drove  him  in  front  of  him  till  he 
reached  the  guard.  Then  he  rode  out  once  more 
with  Lieutenant  Byrnes  and  ten  men,  soon  en 
countering  a  squad  of  twenty  of  the  enemy  riding 
toward  them  in  an  attempt  to  break  through  to 
reach  their  main  body. 

The  chief  officer  rode  in  front,  splendidly  mounted, 
and  Custer  singled  him  out  and  tried  to  head  him 
off.  The  man  turned  toward  a  stout  rail  fence. 

"I  reasoned,"  remarks  Custer,  "that  he  might 
attempt  to  leap  it  and  be  thrown,  or,  if  he  could 
clear  it,  so  could  I."  The  man  prepared  for  the 
leap  and  cleared  the  fence  handsomely.  Custer's 
horse  did  it  quite  as  well,  and  in  a  moment  Custer 
was  close  upon  the  fugitive,  calling  upon  him  to 
surrender  or  he  would  shoot.  To  this  the  man  paid 
no  attention.  Custer  fired.  The  man  still  rode 
on.  Again  Custer  called  for  surrender.  No  reply. 
"Then,"  says  Custer,  "I  took  deliberate  aim  at  his 
body  and  fired.  He  sat  for  a  moment  in  his  saddle, 
reeled,  and  fell  to  the  ground ;  his  horse  ran  on  and 
mine  also." 


34  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Custer  then  joined  Byrnes  and  captured  another 
of  the  enemy,  when  the  bugle  call  for  return 
sounded.  Before  responding,  Custer  secured  the 
horse  of  the  officer  he  had  shot,  a  bright  bay,  and 
kept  it  for  his  own.  The  saddle  was  a  handsome 
one,  covered  with  black  morocco  and  ornamented 
with  silver  nails.  To  it  hung  the  officer's  sword, 
which  Custer  carried  thereafter  all  through  the  war. 
On  its  fine  blade  was  engraved  in  Spanish,  "Draw 
me  not  without  cause,  sheathe  me  not  without 
honor." 


CHAPTER  V 
ON  A  SPECIAL  MISSION 

FALLING  back  on  Williamsburg  with  the  army, 
Custer  found  there  one  of  his  West  Point  class 
mates  who  had  gone  over  to  the  Southern  army. 
He  had  been  captured  and  wounded  and  was  on 
parole.  This  young  man  was  stopping  with  a 
friend,  and  there  Custer  visited  him,  was  intro 
duced  to  his  host  and  family,  all  "secesh,"  but  who 
nevertheless  received  the  Union  officer  with  cus 
tomary  Southern  hospitality.  Custer  accepted 
their  invitation  to  return  for  the  night,  obtained 
the  general's  permission,  changed  his  campaign 
clothes  for  better  garments,  and  arrived  in  time  for 
a  good  supper.  There  were  two  beautiful  young 
women  in  the  household,  to  one  of  whom  his  friend 
was  engaged.  Nothing  would  satisfy  them  except 
Custer's  presence  at  the  wedding,  and  in  order  to 
make  sure  of  this  pleasure,  it  was  agreed  that  the 
ceremony  should  take  place  the  next  evening.  The 

35 


36  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

other  young  lady  was  to  be  the  bridesmaid  and 
Custer  the  groomsman. 

The  wedding  took  place  as  planned,  with  the 
bridegroom  dressed  in  a  new  " rebel"  uniform, 
while  Custer  attended  in  full  Union  garb.  After 
the  ceremony  the  one  bridesmaid  wept,  whereupon 
Custer's  friend  chaffed  her  with  the  charge  that 
she  was  disappointed  at  not  being  married  her 
self! 

"But  here  is  the  minister,"  he  said,  "and  here  is 
Captain  Custer  who  will  be  glad  to  carry  off  such 
a  pretty  bride  from  the  Southern  Confederacy." 

Custer  admired  this  Southern  beauty,  and  re 
mained  two  weeks  with  his  kind  friends ;  but  further 
enjoyment  was  terminated  by  the  withdrawal  of 
the  Northern  army  from  the  Peninsula.  Feeling 
that  the  enemy  would  not  give  him  the  considera 
tion  his  new  friends  did,  he  said  farewell  and  went 
to  Yorktown,  then  to  Fortress  Monroe  where  he 
boarded  a  boat  for  Baltimore,  taking  with  him  his 
dog,  two  horses,  and  a  servant.  From  Baltimore 
he  went  to  Washington  to  await  the  arrival  of 
McClellan  who  was  to  establish  his  winter  quarters 
there. 

By  the  failure  of  his  Peninsular  Campaign, 
McClellan  had  lost  favor.  He  was  relieved  from 
the  supreme  command  and  put  on  waiting  orders. 


ON  A  SPECIAL  MISSION  37 

Custer's  advanced  position  as  captain  on  McClel- 
lan's  staff  was  at  an  end,  but  the  general's  recom 
mendation  secured  for  him  a  commission  as  first 
lieutenant  in  the  Fifth  Cavalry,  which  was  an  ad 
vance.  Meanwhile,  as  little  was  going  on,  he 
secured  leave  of  absence  and  went  to  his  home  in 
Monroe  where  he  remained  several  weeks  during 
the  winter  of  1862-63. 

During  these  months  a  great  event  of  his  life 
occurred.  He  met  and  became  acquainted  with 
a  young  lady  he  had  seen  before,  the  belle  of  the 
town,  and  the  only  daughter  of  Judge  Bacon. 
Miss  Elizabeth  Bacon  captured  his  heart  com 
pletely,  and  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  she  was  his 
guiding  star.  The  judge  hardly  thought  the  life 
of  any  army  officer's  wife  was  suited  to  his  daughter, 
and  he  demurred  at  the  prospect  on  that  ground. 
Custer  was  not  discouraged,  and  it  is  likely  that, 
as  far  as  the  inclination  of  the  young  lady  herself 
was  concerned,  he  had  good  reason  to  feel  hopeful 
when  he  was  ordered,  about  the  middle  of  January, 
1863,  to  come  to  McClellan's  assistance  in  the  prep 
aration  of  the  latter's  report.  This  occupied  him 
till  the  following  April,  when  Custer  was  sent  back 
to  his  company  at  Falmouth,  Virginia. 

The  command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
had  now  been  changed  twice.  Custer  believed 


38  GEORGE   ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

McClellan  was  the  best  general  of  all,  and  that  if 
Washington  had  let  him  alone  the  results  would 
have  been  different.  He  looked  upon  each  new 
commander  as  more  or  less  of  a  usurper,  but  he 
put  the  same  energy  into  his  work  that  he  had  done 
before.  Hooker  followed  Burnside  as  McClellan's 
successor,  and  planned  to  strike  Lee's  left  after 
moving  out  of  Fredericksburg  where  the  Union 
army  had  wintered.  A  great  engagement,  the 
battle  of  Chancellorsville,  took  place  early  in  May, 
1863,  with  heavy  loss  on  both  sides.  The  Con 
federate  army  scored  a  success.  Custer  came  out, 
as  usual,  without  a  scratch. 

A  little  later  in  May,  1863,  General  Hooker  sent 
Custer  on  a  special  secret  mission  into  the  enemy's 
lines  with  a  support  of  seventy-five  cavalrymen. 
The  entire  party  was  taken  down  the  Potomac  on 
two  steamers,  the  Caleca  and  the  Manhattan,  just 
after  dark  on  May  21,  1863,  landing  the  next 
morning  at  eleven  on  the  bank  of  the  Yocomico 
River,  about  five  miles  above  its  mouth.  The 
Yocomico  enters  the  Potomac  not  far  from  Chesa 
peake  Bay.  Here  the  troops  were  mounted  and 
in  five  hours  rode  forty  miles  across  to  the  Rap- 
pahannock,  reaching  it  opposite  to  and  near  the 
town  of  Urbana,  where  they  hid  in  the  woods  till 
the  next  morning.  Early  the  next  morning  a  small 


ON  A  SPECIAL  MISSION  39 

sailing  vessel  was  seen  coming  down  the  Rappa- 
hannock,  when  Custer,  taking  a  small  boat,  and 
with  nine  men  and  one  officer,  pushed  out  after 
the  vessel.  It  required  a  chase  of  ten  miles  before 
they  got  near  enough  to  have  their  pursuit  effective. 
Then  the  crew  ran  the  boat  aground,  jumped  over 
board,  and  made  their  escape,  leaving  the  boat, 
its  passengers  and  contents,  to  the  pursuers,  "the 
passengers,"  says  Custer,  "being  a  portion  of  the 
party  we  desired  to  capture." 

There  is  no  explanation  as  to  who  the  party  con 
sisted  of  or  why  they  were  wanted.  Among  the 
passengers  was  a  Jewish  family  of  six,  two  of  whom 
were  young  ladies.  Custer  made  prisoners  of  all, 
rather  regretfully  in  the  case  of  the  young  ladies, 
and  then  with  four  of  his  men  went  ashore,  wading 
for  two  or  three  hundred  yards  before  reaching 
solid  ground. 

A  fine  country  mansion  was  seen  not  far  off,  and 
as  they  approached  it,  a  man  wearing  a  Confederate 
uniform  was  observed  lying  on  the  piazza,  reading. 
His  back  was  toward  the  raiders,  and  he  was  so  quiet 
that  Custer  thought  there  might  be  a  trap  for  him. 
He  crept  cautiously  with  drawn  pistol  to  within  four 
feet  of  the  intent  reader  without  being  discovered. 

"You  are  my  prisoner,"  Custer  said,  "and  must 
come  with  me." 


40  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

The  victim,  realizing  the  situation  at  a  glance, 
replied  quite  coolly,  "I  suppose  so."  He  had  been 
reading  Hamlet's  " Soliloquy"  and  was  evidently 
in  a  philosophical  state  of  mind.  He  was  a  Con 
federate  soldier  at  home  for  a  brief  visit,  and  he 
told  Custer  that  there  were  Confederate  troops 
within  six  miles. 

Inside  the  house  were  the  officer's  sisters.  They 
had  heard  nothing  of  the  capture  till  Custer  entered 
and  told  them  that  much  to  his  regret  he  would 
have  to  take  their  brother  away.  On  the  return 
trip  to  the  north  bank  the  officer  laughed  with 
Custer  over  his  literary  habits.  After  seeing  that 
his  prisoners  were  secure,  Custer  took  three  boats, 
and  with  twenty  men  crossed  the  Rappahannock 
again,  this  time  to  Urbana,  and  there  he  burned 
two  schooners  and  a  bridge,  driving  the  pickets 
out  of  the  town.  Making  his  way  back  to  the  north 
bank  in  the  boats,  he  captured  twelve  prisoners, 
thirty  horses,  two  boxes  of  boots  and  shoes,  and 
two  barrels  of  whisky.  The  latter  he  promptly 
destroyed. 

The  horses  were  remounted  and  he  returned 
with  all  the  prisoners  to  the  place  where  the 
steamers  were  waiting.  The  women  were  put  in 
carriages  which  had  been  captured.  To  avoid 
pursuit,  the  march  was  continued  till  two  o'clock 


ON  A  SPECIAL  MISSION  41 

in  the  morning,  when  they  camped  till  daylight. 
Then  they  went  on,  reaching  the  steamers  about 
noon.  The  following  day  the  whole  party  were  in 
Washington.  Not  a  single  thing  had  gone  wrong. 
So  much  was  General  Hooker  pleased  by  Ouster's 
energy  and  efficiency  that  he  sent  for  him  and 
personally  complimented  him  on  the  manner  in 
which  the  orders  had  been  executed. 


CHAPTER  VI 

FIGHTING  AT  GETTYSBURG 

McCLELLAN  had  been  driven  out  of  the  Peninsula 
and  the  Confederates  had  won  two  important 
battles,  Fredericksburg  and  Chancellors ville.  They 
did  not  see  why  they  should  not  now  advance 
into  the  North  and  threaten  Philadelphia  and 
New  York.  A  victory  in  that  direction  would 
convince  the  European  nations  that  the  Confed 
eracy  was  to  succeed  and  would  enforce  recognition 
from  England  and  France. 

On  June  3,  1863,  therefore,  Lee  began  that  great 
movement  northward  which  was,  in  fact,  to  deter 
mine  the  ultimate  result  of  the  war.  Hooker,  in 
command  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  was  so 
hampered  from  Washington  that  he  resigned  on 
the  2yth  of  June,  when  a  portion  of  Lee's  cavalry 
was  actually  within  sight  of  the  spires  of  Har- 
risburg,  Pennsylvania.  General  George  Gordon 
Meade  was  appointed  in  his  place. 

Custer  was  now  attached  to  the  staff  of  General 
42 


FIGHTING  AT  GETTYSBURG  43 

Pleasonton,  and  a  part  of  this  cavalry,  reconnoiter- 
ing,  ran  upon  the  cavalry  of  the  brilliant  Confed 
erate  general,  "  Jeb"  Stuart,  at  Aldie  where  a  sharp 
fight  took  place.  In  the  confusion,  just  as  the 
Federals  were  being  forced  into  a  bad  situation  by 
Stuart's  excellent  force,  and  officers  were  yelling 
and  beckoning  for  an  advance  in  the  din  and  tur 
moil,  Kilpatrick  and  Douty  failing  even  to  make 
an  impression,  Custer  rode  calmly  forward,  wearing 
a  broad  straw  hat  from  beneath  which  his  golden 
curls  floated  out  as  he  rode,  his  long  saber,  the  one 
he  had  captured  the  year  before,  flashing  in  the  air. 
Pointing  this  weapon  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy, 
he  galloped  alone  toward  the  thickest  of  the  fray, 
shouting,  "Come  on,  boys!" 

With  Kilpatrick  and  Douty  beside  him,  he  rode 
swiftly  on,  while  the  troops  behind  followed  with  a 
yell.  Kilpatrick's  horse  was  shot  and  its  rider  went 
down,  Douty  fell  dead,  but  Custer's  curls  floated 
on,  a  shining  signal  for  friend  or  foe.  If  he  had 
been  incased  in  treble  armor  he  could  not  have 
passed  more  safely. 

The  Confederates  were  routed  but  still  Custer 
rode  on  after  them.  One  turned  and  fired  at  him 
point-blank  and  missed ;  the  next  instant  Custer's 
magic  sword  smote  him  from  his  horse.  Another 
dashed  upon  him  with  a  mighty  saber,  getting  him 


44     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

on  the  wrong  side.  Suddenly  Custer  stopped. 
The  enemy  was  carried  past,  wheeled,  and  came 
back  fairly  in  front.  " Stand  back,  boys;  let's 
have  a  fair  fight!"  The  old  West  Point  slogan 
flashed  through  his  mind.  In  another  moment 
Ouster's  powerful  stroke  had  laid  the  gallant  fellow 
on  the  ground.  Looking  around,  Custer  found  he 
was  in  the  very  midst  of  the  forces  of  the  enemy  and 
alone.  His  broad-brimmed  straw  hat  was  like 
those  worn  by  the  Southerners  and  they  mistook 
him  for  one  of  their  own  men.  Before  they  could 
discover  the  error,  Custer  put  spur  to  his  strong 
horse,  knocked  one  opposing  warrior  out  of  his  way 
with  a  blow  of  his  famous  saber,  and  gained  his  own 
command,  taking  in  as  a  prisoner  the  man  he  had 
first  struck  from  his  horse. 

General  Pleasonton  was  deeply  impressed  with 
Custer's  alertness  and  ability  as  a  cavalry  officer, 
and  four  days  later  Custer  was  made  a  brigadier 
general  of  volunteers,  while  Pleasonton  himself 
was  advanced  to  the  office  of  major  general. 
Custer  was  only  twenty-three.  Then,  June  29, 
1863,  he  was  transferred  to  the  Michigan  Brigade, 
the  same  regiment  for  whose  command  he  had  ap 
plied  when  he  was  at  home  earlier  in  the  year. 

The  Federal  cavalry  was  rapidly  developing 
efficiency.  Three  divisions  were  now  formed, 


FIGHTING  AT  GETTYSBURG  45 

Kilpatrick  being  in  command  of  the  one  to  which 
Custer  and  his  Michigan  Brigade  were  assigned. 

As  Lee  moved  northward  toward  the  accomplish 
ment  of  the  vast  movement  projected,  he  found  his 
communications  in  danger  and  concentrated  his 
forces  at  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania.  Meade  ad 
vanced  toward  the  same  point  to  destroy  him,  and 
the  greatest  battle  of  the  western  world  began 
July  i,  1863. 

Custer's  first  appearance  as  a  commanding 
officer  was  in  the  opening  skirmishes  of  this  terrific 
conflict.  His  appearance  was  very  striking.  His 
jacket  and  trousers  were  of  velveteen,  his  sleeves 
were  ornamented  with  gold  braid  to  show  his  rank, 
the  star  of  a  brigadier  was  worked  in  one  corner  of 
the  broad,  falling  collar  of  his  soft  blue  woolen  shirt, 
and  high  top-boots  were  drawn  over  his  trousers. 
His  necktie  was  scarlet  and  of  ample  dimensions, 
which  so  impressed  his  troops  that  the  entire  brigade 
adopted  ties  of  the  same  color. 

The  rigid  discipline  he  learned  from  Kearny  he 
had  insisted  upon  in  his  new  command,  in  prepara 
tion  for  the  struggle  now  beginning.  On  the  first 
day  he  was  able,  just  after  starting  his  march,  to 
reverse  it  and  go  to  the  relief  of  Kilpatrick  who  was 
severely  beset  by  Wade  Hampton's  cavalry.  The 
following  day,  arriving  near  Gettysburg  late  in  the 


46  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

afternoon  with  Kilpatrick,  during  the  great  engage 
ment  between  Sickles  and  the  Confederate  General 
Longstreet,  Stuart's  famous  cavalry  was  again  in 
the  way.  Kilpatrick  ordered  Ouster's  and  Farns- 
worth's  brigades  to  attack.  As  Custer  advanced 
he  sent  Company  A  of  the  Sixth  Michigan  to  charge 
a  group  of  the  enemy  who,  from  a  wheat  field,  were 
raking  the  road  with  their  fire.  Captain  Thompson 
was  about  to  execute  the  order,  when  Custer  himself 
rode  to  the  front,  shouting,  "I'll  lead  you  this  time, 
boys;  come  on!"  and  spurred  toward  the  Con 
federates.  They  opened  fire  so  effectively  that 
Thompson  dropped  mortally  wounded  and  Custer's 
horse  was  killed.  His  men  retreated.  One  of  the 
enemy  rode  at  him  as  he  was  extricating  himself 
from  the  horse,  but  was  shot  by  a  boy  of  Custer's 
command  named  Churchill  who  had  halted  near. 
Custer  mounted  behind  the  boy  and  was  soon  back 
among  his  cavalry,  now  coming  on  dismounted. 
Aided  by  batteries  in  their  rear,  the  Federals  pressed 
the  enemy  till  they  fell  back. 

On  the  morning  of  July  3,  Custer  received  an 
order  to  follow  from  a  place  called  Two  Taverns, 
where  he  then  was,  along  the  road  to  Gettysburg. 
Hardly  had  he  begun  to  execute  this  order  before 
another  came,  directing  him  to  throw  his  command 
into  position  on  the  road  from  York  to  Gettysburg, 


FIGHTING  AT  GETTYSBURG  47 

which  was  the  extreme  right  of  the  great  battle. 
Carrying  this  order  into  effect  immediately,  he 
reconnoitered  the  situation  without  discovering  any 
of  the  enemy  till  about  ten  in  the  morning,  when  a 
battery  of  six  guns  opened  on  him  from  the  right. 
Covering  his  first  position  with  two  guns  and  a 
regiment,  to  hold  the  road  to  Gettysburg,  he  swung 
the  remainder  of  his  troops  at  right  angles  to  his 
first  line  to  meet  the  rain  of  shot  and  shell  coming 
into  their  midst.  Two  sections  of  Battery  M  of 
the  Second  Regular  Artillery  were  quickly  brought 
to  bear  on  the  enemy  and  very  soon  there  was  silence 
in  that  quarter. 

Custer's  whole  command  was  resting  in  the  form 
of  a  letter  L,  supported  by  the  battery.  To  get  the 
necessary  grasp  of  the  situation,  he  directed  Major 
Webber  to  send  two  detachments  of  fifty  men  each 
a  mile  and  a  half  on  the  Oxford  and  York  roads. 
This  task  Webber  performed  so  well  that  Custer 
was  able  to  place  his  command  in  an  advantageous 
position. 

About  noon  he  was  ordered  to  relinquish  this 
position  to  another  brigade  under  General  Gregg 
and  move  over  to  the  extreme  left  of  the  Federal 
line.  Custer  did  not  consider  this  wise,  and  when 
General  Gregg  came  up,  before  it  could  be  put  in 
operation,  he  explained  what  he  had  learned  through 


48     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

his  efficient  scout  system.  Gregg  accepted  Custer's 
view  and  told  him  to  remain  where  he  was.  The 
cavalry  opposed  to  him  at  this  time,  on  Lee's 
extreme  left,  was  that  of  Stuart  (Wade  Hampton's 
Division),  the  best  the  Confederacy  had,  and 
probably  taken  all  in  all,  as  good  and  efficient  a 
body  of  cavalry  as  any  in  the  world  at  that  time. 
Stuart  was  menacing  Meade's  line  of  retreat,  and 
the  result  was  a  series  of  charges  and  counter 
charges,  for  with  Custer  so  rapidly  developing  skill 
in  this  kind  of  action,  Stuart  and  Hampton  met 
more  than  their  match. 

The  scouting  party  was  presently  driven  in  by 
Stuart's  advanced  skirmishers  of  dismounted 
cavalry,  and  when  they  appeared  on  a  ridge,  Custer 
sent  Colonel  Alger  to  attack  them.  This  was  so 
well  done  that  the  enemy  were  completely  repulsed 
in  several  fierce  onslaughts,  but  the  Federals,  run 
ning  out  of  ammunition,  had  to  fall  back,  when  on 
came  the  enemy  again  with  two  regiments.  They 
were  met  in  a  countercharge  by  the  Seventh  Mich 
igan  under  Colonel  Mann,  and  driven  from  field  to 
field,  till  they  at  length  held  ground  behind  a  high 
fence.  The  Federals  were  now  obliged  to  retreat, 
pursued  in  turn  by  the  Confederates,  till  the  Fifth 
Michigan  came  to  their  aid.  Thus  far  neither  side 
had  any  advantage,  but  at  this  moment  Custer 


FIGHTING  AT  GETTYSBURG  49 

perceived  four  enemy-regiments  approaching  on 
the  crest  of  the  hill.  He  had  in  reserve  only  one 
regiment,  the  First  Michigan,  and  the  battery. 

Without  hesitation  he  ordered  the  regiment 
under  Colonel  Town  to  charge  this  force  which  out 
numbered  them  five  to  one.  Custer  himself  led 
the  way  at  a  trot.  The  regiment  had  sabers  drawn 
and,  when  within  a  few  yards  of  the  Confederates, 
charged  the  front  rank  with  a  terrific  yell.  So 
fierce  was  this  charge  under  Custer's  impetuous 
but  well-directed  lead,  that  the  whole  opposing 
force  was  driven  back  pellmell.  In  his  official 
report  Custer  says  for  his  men,  not  for  himself, 
"  I  challenge  the  annals  of  warfare  to  produce  a 
more  brilliant  charge  of  cavalry."  Partly  respon 
sible  for  this  great  success  was  the  battery  so  effi 
ciently  handled  by  Lieutenant  Pennington. 

The  attempt  to  turn  this  end  of  the  Federal  line 
was  now  abandoned  for  the  day,  and  no  further 
serious  engagement  occurred  at  this  point.  Custer 
had  performed  his  appointed  task  well.  At  dark 
he  returned  to  Two  Taverns  where  he  camped  for 
the  night. 

His  losses  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing  were 
five  hundred  and  forty- two.  Custer  thanked  his 
officers  and  men  personally  for  the  bravery  they 
displayed,  and  in  his  report  made  special  mention 


50     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

of  many.  The  command  was  orderly,  well  dis 
ciplined,  and  well  handled.  The  "boy  general" 
had  already  dispelled  the  doubts  of  some  at  the 
wisdom  of  appointing  so  young  a  man  to  so  high  a 
command. 

Despite  the  two  days  of  continuous  and  fierce 
fighting  all  over  the  Gettysburg  field,  no  decision 
had  been  reached.  Buford  at  the  left  and  Custer 
at  the  right  had  prevented  Lee  from  turning  the 
Federal  flanks,  but  Lee  was  not  defeated.  Failing 
at  the  ends,  he  concluded  on  the  third  day  to 
attempt  to  break  the  center.  Meade,  on  the  third 
day,  somewhat  in  doubt  as  to  the  best  course, 
decided  to  fight  along  the  same  lines  as  before. 
It  was  West  Point  against  West  Point.  The  great 
battle  opened  on  the  third  day  with  tremendous 
vigor,  and  a  terrific  artillery  duel  took  place,  the 
roar  of  which  could  be  heard  forty  miles  away. 
This  was  followed  by  Lee's  attempt  to  pierce  the 
center  of  the  Federal  line  by  the  famous  charge 
of  Pickett's  brigade.  Only  a  fragment  of  this 
brigade  ever  returned,  and  nearly  every  officer 
was  either  killed  or  wounded  except  Pickett  him 
self.  During  this  time  Kilpatrick  and  Custer 
tried  to  pass  around  the  Confederate  right,  while 
Stuart  was  attempting  the  passage  around  the 
Federal  right,  as  on  the  day  before.  Both  failed, 


FIGHTING  AT  GETTYSBURG  51 

but  the  sun  set,  this  3d  day  of  July,  1863,  on  a 
practically  defeated  Confederacy.  The  following 
morning,  in  a  heavy  storm,  Lee  began  his  retreat. 
The  wounded,  in  misery,  were  carried  in  the  rough 
wagons,  and  the  whole  race  for  the  crossing  of  the 
Potomac  was  one  of  turmoil,  with  an  hourly  expec 
tation  of  attack.  Kilpa trick,  in  whose  command 
Custer  was,  started  in  pursuit  to  harass  the  enemy 
and  capture  trains,  but  the  weather  and  other  condi 
tions  were  equally  unfavorable  for  the  Federal 
troops.  There  was  considerable  skirmishing.  At 
the  battle  of  Falling  Waters,  during  the  Confederate 
retreat,  Custer,  on  July  5,  by  the  use  of  only  four 
companies,  captured  a  whole  brigade  of  the  enemy. 
No  systematic  pursuit  of  Lee,  however,  was  at 
tempted.  The  great  Southern  general  was  pres 
ently  back  on  Virginia  soil  and  Philadelphia  and 
New  York  felt  safe  once  more. 


CHAPTER  VII 

AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  FIELD 

THE  day  after  Gettysburg  another  victory  fell 
to  the  Union  arms.  Vicksburg,  the  key  to  the 
Mississippi,  was  captured  by  General  Grant  whose 
supreme  military  skill  was  soon  to  make  him 
general  in  chief. 

In  the  eastern  field,  for  a  time  after  Gettysburg, 
not  much  was  attempted.  The  Federals  having 
lost  some  23,000  men  and  the  Confederates  about 
28,000,  there  was  much  to  do  in  recuperation.  Lee, 
too,  had  been  obliged  to  leave  7000  of  his  wounded 
among  the  unburied  dead,  and  the  Federals  had 
to  attend  to  these  men  first. 

There  were,  however,  numerous  minor  engage 
ments  in  which  Custer  took  part,  always  with 
such  efficiency  and  success  that  he  was  continually 
being  favorably  mentioned  in  the  reports  to  head 
quarters.  General  Pleasonton  was  particularly 
gratified  at  Custer's  way  of  doing  things  because 
it  confirmed  his  judgment  in  recommending  his 
advancement.  Merritt,  the  other  young  man  he 

52 


AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  FIELD  53 

had  recommended,  was  equally  skillful,  and  so 
was  Farnsworth,  but  the  latter  was  early  killed 
in  battle,  while  Custer  and  Merritt  seemed  to 
bear  charmed  lives. 

About  the  middle  of  September,  1863,  the 
general  inactivity  was  broken  by  the  movement 
of  the  cavalry  toward  a  place  in  Virginia  called 
Culpeper,  between  the  Rapidan  and  the  North 
Fork  of  the  Rappahannock.  The  line  of  cavalry, 
comprising  about  12,000  men,  was  between  five 
and  six  miles  long.  Custer  had  the  left  of  the 
line.  At  Culpeper  three  batteries  of  the  enemy 
were  trained  on  the  advancing  Federals  to  check 
them  till  Stuart  could  get  out  of  the  way  of  what 
he  believed  to  be  the  whole  Army  of  the  Potomac. 
As  Custer  reached  a  deep  creek,  in  his  dash  to 
get  at  a  train  on  the  railway  ready  to  start,  the 
enemy  opened  fire  with  three  batteries.  Custer 
tried  to  damage  the  locomotive  by  his  artillery 
but  did  not  succeed.  He  was  wounded  slightly 
in  the  thigh,  and  it  was  the  first  time  he  had  been 
injured.  His  horse  was  killed  under  him. 

In  a  short  time  Culpeper  and  all  the  country 
around  it  north  of  the  Rapidan  were  in  possession 
of  the  Federal  forces.  Nevertheless,  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  having  acquired  a  habit  of  re 
treating,  fell  back  before  Lee  and  was  speedily 


54     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

in  Washington,  only  to  make  the  move  all  over 
again  in  October.  On  the  gth  of  that  month, 
Custer  being  on  the  north  bank  of  feobertson 
River,  his  picket  line  was  attacked  and  he  dis 
covered  the  enemy  moving  a  heavy  column  toward 
his  right.  He  had  his  command  ready  to  move 
at  three  in  the  morning.  The  enemy,  finding  it 
impossible  to  surprise  him,  took  possession  of 
Cedar  Mountain  for  a  signal  station. 

After  some  attempt  to  take  James  City,  night 
fell  and  the  Federals  rested  on  their  arms,  re 
tiring  in  the  morning  to  Culpeper.  There  Custer 
failed  to  bring  on  an  attack  and  he  continued 
toward  Rappahannock  Station.  Owing  to  General 
Meade's  again  retreating,  the  cavalry  were  left  in 
the  lurch.  Near  Brandy  Station,  Custer  found  a 
brigade  of  enemy-cavalry  immediately  in  front, 
cutting  him  off.  The  rear  of  the  column  just 
before  this  became  engaged  with  a  superior  force; 
at  the  same  time  each  flank  was  threatened  by 
a  strong  column,  while  in  front  was  a  force  more 
than  twice  his  strength.  It  was  a  perilous  situa 
tion  for  the  Federal  command.  Lieutenant  Pen- 
nington  opened  with  his  artillery  on  the  foe  ahead, 
which  immediately  drew  a  sharp  reply  of  the  same 
kind. 

Custer  left   the   Sixth  and   Seventh   Michigan 


AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  FIELD  55 

Cavalry  to  hold  the  enemy  in  the  rear.  Then  he 
formed  the  Fifth  Michigan  on  his  right  in  column 
of  battalions  and  on  his  left  the  First  Michigan  in 
column  of  squadrons.  He  next  informed  the 
command  that  the  entire  force  was  surrounded 
and  that  the  only  thing  to  do  was  to  cut  a  way 
out  with  their  sabers.  This  information  was 
received  with  cheers.  The  band  struck  up 
"Yankee  Doodle"  and  Custer  went  forward 
with  the  two  regiments.  The  enemy  failed  to 
stand  up  to  this  solid  phalanx  and  broke  in  dis 
order,  with  the  elated  men  of  Custer's  command 
in  full  pursuit.  They  inflicted  considerable  dam 
age  in  a  series  of  charges  and  arrived  at  the  river 
in  good  order. 

Custer  did  a  good  deal  of  skirmishing  in  the 
next  few  days.  On  one  occasion,  October  19, 
he  was  so  persistent  that  the  redoubtable  Stuart 
was  forced  to  fly,  leaving  his  untouched  dinner 
behind.  Meade  at  length  continued  his  advance 
and  went  into  winter  quarters  at  Brandy  Station. 

Having  been  wounded,  Custer  secured  a  twenty 
days'  leave  of  absence  and  went  immediately  to 
Monroe.  He  was  still  uncertain  as  to  the  outcome 
of  his  suit  for  the  hand  of  Elizabeth  Bacon.  He 
had  not  directly  corresponded  with  her,  but  he 
had,  through  a  friend,  kept  himself  fully  informed 


56  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

about  her.  He  now  learned,  to  his  gratification, 
that  her  father  had  withdrawn  all  objections,  and 
the  engagement  of  the  Judge's  daughter  and 
Brigadier  General  Custer  was,  therefore,  an 
nounced.  Custer  returned  to  his  regiment  with 
everything  in  his  horizon  entirely  favorable,  and 
was  back  in  Monroe  a  few  days  before  the  date 
set  for  the  wedding.  This  took  place  February  9, 
1864,  in  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Monroe,  the 
ceremony  being  performed  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Boyd. 
Custer  was  attended  by  his  staff,  wore  his  full 
uniform,  and  even  had  his  hair  cut  for  the  occasion. 

It  was  a  memorable  day  for  Monroe,  which  then 
had  the  reputation  of  having  more  pretty  girls 
than  any  town  of  its  size  in  the  country.  But 
the  mothers  were  opposed  to  army  life  for  their 
daughters.  One  had  said  to  the  prospective  Mrs. 
Custer,  thinking  to  induce  her  to  break  her  en 
gagement,  "Why,  girl,  you  can't  be  a  poor  man's 
wife;  besides,  he  might  lose  a  leg!"  But  Eliza 
beth  Bacon  knew  her  own  mind  then  and  after 
wards,  and  has  given  to  the  world  an  example  of 
a  woman's  devotion,  bravery,  and  balance  never 
surpassed. 

Scarcely  had  Custer  and  his  wife  reached  Wash 
ington  on  their  wedding  trip,  than  a  telegram 
came  ordering  him  to  the  front.  Mrs.  Custer 


STATUE  AT  MONROE,  MICHIGAN 

This  statue  of  General  Custer  was  given  by  the  state  to  the  city 
and  unveiled  in  the  summer  of  1908  by  Mrs.  Custer  in  the  presence  of 
President  Taft  and  thousands  of  visitors. 


AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  FIELD  57 

begged  so  hard  not  to  be  left  behind  that  he  con 
sented  to  her  going,  and  in  a  few  hours  she  was 
domiciled  in  an  isolated  farmhouse,  on  the  extreme 
wing  of  the  army,  finishing  her  honeymoon  alone. 
"I  had  so  Besought  him  to  allow  me  to  come," 
she  says,  "that  I  did  not  dare  to  own  to  myself 
the  desolation  and  fright  I  felt."  One  writer 
declares  that  "finding  him  good,  she  left  him 
perfect,  and %  her  sweet  and  gracious  influence 
can  be  traced  on  all  his  after  life." 

Before  his  hurried  departure  on  orders,  Custer 
arranged  a  guard  at  his  wife's  quarters,  and  his 
faithful  colored  servant,  Eliza,  was  her  constant 
attendant.  "It  was  a  sudden  plunge,"  she  writes, 
"into  a  life  of  vicissitude  and  danger,  and  I  hardly 
remember  the  time  during  the  twelve  years  that 
followed  when  I  was  not  in  fear  of  some  immediate 
peril,  or  in  dread  of  some  danger  that  threatened." 

The  order  which  called  General  Custer  so  un 
ceremoniously  from  the  enjoyment  of  his  honey 
moon,  was  to  make  a  raid  into  Albemarle  County, 
Virginia.  This  is  known  in  the  annals  of  the  war 
as  "  Custer 's  Raid."  It  was  begun  on  February  28, 
1864,  with  1500  men  and  one  section  of  artillery. 
The  28th  was  Sunday.  Custer  left  at  2  P.M.  He 
found  no  enemy  except  a  few  pickets  where  a 
mounted  force  of  about  twenty  was  encountered. 


58     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

From  prisoners  he  learned  that  Fitzhugh  Lee's 
division  of  cavalry  was  camped  near  Charlottes- 
ville.  Custer  drove  in  the  pickets  of  this  force, 
and  when  near  Chariot tesville  discovered  a  large 
force  of  infantry,  two  brigades  of  cavalry,  and 
four  batteries  of  artillery.  His  object  was  the 
destruction  of  the  Lynchburg  Railway  bridge 
over  the  Rivanna  River,  but  this  very  large  force 
prevented  his  doing  it.  He  was  able,  however, 
to  burn  another  bridge  within  two  miles  of  the 
railway  and  captured  and  destroyed  a  large  camp 
after  driving  the  enemy  from  it.  He  took  six 
caissons  loaded  with  ammunition,  two  forges, 
harness  for  the  caissons  and  forges,  one  standard 
bearing  the  Virginia  state  arms,  and  two  wagons, 
both  of  them  loaded  with  bacon.  They  also 
captured  about  five  hundred  horses  and  burned 
three  flour  mills  filled  with  grain. 

On  heading  for  home,  Ouster's  force  was  cut 
off  by  a  superior  force  of  cavalry  and  artillery 
under  the  brilliant  Stuart  himself;  but  Custer 
was  not  to  be  daunted,  and  charged  this  opposi 
tion  with  such  fury  that  he  did  not  lose  a  man 
and  had  only  a  few  wounded.  He  not  only  killed 
several  of  the  enemy  and  wounded  a  large  num 
ber,  but  he  took  fifty  prisoners.  Without  further 
opposition,  Custer  rode  back  with  his  command 


AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  FIELD  59 

to  his  starting-place,  arriving  at  6  P.M.,  March  18, 
having  covered  one  hundred  miles  since  the  pre 
vious  morning. 

There  now  came  a  considerable  change  in  army 
matters.  Grant  was  called  from  the  West  and 
given  supreme  command  as  Lieutenant  General, 
while  Meade,  remaining  as  he  was,  became  Grant's 
subordinate.  Meade  bore  himself  so  nobly  that 
there  was  no  friction.  Pleasonton  was  removed 
from  the  cavalry  command  which  was  given  to 
Sheridan  who  had  done  remarkable  work  with 
Grant.  Sheridan  and  Custer  had  similar  qualities. 
Kilpatrick  was  sent  to  Sherman  in  the  West,  and 
Custer  was  assigned  with  his  command  to  the 
First  Division  under  Sheridan.  Opposed  to  the 
Federal  cavalry  was  the  Confederate  cavalry  under 
Rosser,  who  had  been  Custer's  chum  at  West 
Point,  and  Rosser  was  aided  by  the  indomitable 
Stuart,  Wade  Hampton,  and  Fitzhugh  Lee. 

Sheridan  developed  the  idea  of  having  the 
cavalry  operate  as  an  independent  force,  instead 
of  always  being  attached  to  the  infantry,  a  method 
the  enemy  had  long  before  adopted. 

Grant,  knowing  that  there  were  many  spies  in 
Washington,  did  not  let  even  the  Cabinet  know 
what  he  intended  to  do,  and  affairs  at  the  front 
moved  better  in  consequence.  South  of  the  June- 


60  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

tion  of  the  Rapidan  and  the  North  Fork  of  the 
Rappahannock  was  a  region  known  as  the  Wilder 
ness.  The  Federal  army  had  wintered  on  the 
north  side  of  the  Rapidan,  and  in  May,  1864, 
Lee  was  intrenched  along  the  western  edge  of  the 
Wilderness.  On  May  3,  at  midnight,  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  with  its  thousands  of  wagons, 
began  to  move  through  the  Wilderness  to  attack 
Lee.  Before  Grant's  army  had  passed  through 
the  rough  ground,  Lee  fell  upon  it,  on  May  5, 
and  a  desperate  battle  began  which  continued 
several  days.  After  May  8,  Sheridan  turned  his 
cavalry  toward  Richmond,  with  Ouster's  brigade 
in  advance,  to  ride  around  the  enemy.  On  the 
evening  of  May  9,  Custer  attacked  Beaver  Dam 
Station  on  the  Richmond  Railway  and  charged 
into  it,  capturing  three  trains,  two  engines,  and 
four  hundred  Federal  prisoners  on  the  way  to 
prison  in  Richmond.  Near  Yellow  Tavern,  seven 
miles  north  of  Richmond,  he  ran  upon  a  battery. 
A  personal  examination  convinced  Custer  that  a 
successful  attack  could  be  made. 

Sending  Alger  and  Major  Kidd,  he  carried  out 
his  plan,  and  the  enemy  was  eventually  driven 
through  the  wood  where  they  had  made  the  stand, 
and  out  into  the  open.  A  prominent  Confederate 
officer  was  deliberately  shot  at  this  time  by  one 


AT  HOME  AND  IN  THE  FIELD  61 

of  the  sharpshooters.  It  was  said  to  be  the  brilliant 
General  "Jeb"  Stuart.  He  died  in  this  battle, 
but  his  forces  turned  back  Sheridan's  cavalry, 
almost  at  the  gate  of  Richmond.  Without  a 
supporting  army,  this  cavalry  raid  could  not 
expect  to  enter  the  city,  so  a  retreat  was  made  in 
due  form.  Much  destruction  had  been  wrought, 
but  it  probably  had  no  great  effect  on  the  war. 

A  second  cavalry  raid  was  planned  by  Sheridan 
after  the  close  of  the  battle  known  as  Cold  Harbor. 
Four  days  after  the  start,  the  command  reached 
Trevillian  Station,  five  miles  from  Gordonsville, 
where  Hunter  was  to  come  by  way  of  the  Shenan- 
doah  Valley,  but  couldn't.  Fitzhugh  Lee  with 
his  cavalry  was  at  Trevillian  Station.  Sheridan 
drove  him  back  and  Custer,  with  Alger,  was  able 
to  capture  a  large  number  of  wagons,  ambulances, 
caissons,  about  eight  hundred  men,  and  fifteen 
hundred  horses,  while  the  enemy  was  engaged  in 
an  attack  on  the  other  divisions  of  Sheridan's 
force  on  another  road.  But  Custer  was  unable 
to  hold  his  advantage,  on  account  of  the  failure 
of  another  brigade  to  attack  as  planned,  and 
presently  the  enemy  nearly  surrounded  him.  The 
captured  wagons,  with  much  of  Custer's  property 
in  addition,  were  taken  from  him,  a  disaster 
largely  due  to  a  frightened  quartermaster  moving 


62  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

the  train  without  orders.  The  quartermaster  was 
cashiered  for  cowardice.  In  this  action,  which 
lasted  three  hours,  Custer  saw  his  color-bearer 
killed  in  advance  of  the  charge.  The  flag  was  in 
danger  of  capture.  Custer  himself  rescued  it, 
though  the  death  grip  of  the  sergeant  was  so  firm 
on  the  staff  that  he  was  obliged  to  tear  the  flag 
off  and  wrap  it  round  his  own  person. 

Custer  was  now  one  of  the  most  prominent 
generals  in  the  army.  In  the  public  estimation 
and  in  that  of  the  War  Department  he  was  rated 
along  with  Sheridan,  Kilpatrick,  Wilson,  Crook, 
Merritt,  and  the  other  leading  cavalry  generals. 
And  his  age  was  only  twenty-four. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  VALLEY 

THE  long  Shenandoah  Valley,  fenced  off  so 
securely  by  mountains,  made  an  easy  road  for  the 
Confederate  cavalry  constantly  to  threaten  Wash 
ington.  Grant  saw  that  this  avenue  must  be 
blocked,  and  he  sent  Sheridan  to  command  the 
Army  of  the  Shenandoah  for  this  purpose.  Gen 
eral  Early  was  the  leader  of  the  Confederate 
forces  opposed  to  him,  with  Rosser,  Custer's  West 
Point  companion,  at  the  head  of  the  cavalry. 

The  first  great  clash  of  arms  in  the  valley,  after 
Sheridan  came,  was  the  battle  of  Opequan  or 
Winchester,  in  September,  1864.  Custer  had  his 
command  ready  to  move  at  two  o'clock  on  the 
morning  of  this  engagement,  as  he  intended  to 
reach  Opequan,  about  five  miles  away,  before 
daylight.  Soon  after  two  o'clock  he  was  on  the 
move,  taking  his  army  straight  across  country. 
He  arrived  in  the  vicinity  of  Opequan  Creek  before 
daylight,  without  detection  by  the  enemy,  whose 

63 


64     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

picket  was  on  the  opposite  bank.  Custer  massed 
his  men  in  the  screen  of  a  belt  of  woods  and  awaited 
the  arrival  of  the  remainder  of  the  division  and 
the  commander.  The  latter  ordered  him  to  cross 
at  daylight  at  a  point  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  if 
it  were  possible. 

Custer  made  this  move  and  charged  the  ford 
with  the  Twenty-fifth  New  York  and  the  Seventh 
Michigan,  to  capture  the  rifle  pits  on  the  other 
bank.  By  their  own  request,  the  New  York  regi 
ment  went  first.  The  rifle  fire  was  so  intense  that 
they  had  to  return,  while  the  First  Michigan  went 
in,  under  cover  of  the  fire  of  the  Sixth  Michigan,  on 
the  bank.  The  First  gained  a  footing  and  captured 
some  of  the  riflemen,  taking  the  works.  The 
battle  raged  along  the  whole  front  and  the  troops 
were  rather  evenly  matched  as  to  numbers  and 
also  as  to  officers.  Early,  Rosser,  Lomax,  and 
Fitzhugh  Lee  were,  in  military  skill,  about  the 
equals  of  Sheridan,  Custer,  Torbert,  Merritt,  Wil 
son,  and  Averell. 

The  enemy  withdrew  in  front  of  Custer,  who, 
on  his  own  responsibility,  ordered  an  advance. 
About  two  miles  away  he  met  Lomax's  cavalry 
engaged  with  Averell.  Custer 's  arrival  was  so 
unexpected  that  confusion  overcame  the  Con 
federates  and  they  broke.  This  permitted  Custer 


IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  VALLEY  65 

to  join  his  right  with  AverelPs  left  and  make  an 
unbroken  line  for  the  Federal  forces.  The  Army 
of  the  Shenandoah  now  presented  a  brilliant 
spectacle,  with  banners  flying,  steel  glistening  in 
the  bright  sun,  and  bands  gayly  playing.  "It 
furnished,"  remarks  Custer,  "one  of  the  most 
imposing  scenes  of  martial  grandeur  I  ever  wit 
nessed  upon  a  battlefield." 

Presently  the  engagement  was  so  furious  and 
so  evenly  balanced  that  Custer  said  it  seemed  as 
if  neither  side  could  win.  Custer's  men  charged 
with  the  saber  while  the  enemy  came  on  with 
carbine  and  pistol.  The  Confederates  were  pressed 
back  and  pursued.  After  two  attempts,  Custer 
captured  two  guns  on  his  right,  in  the  enemy's 
main  defense  line.  He  then  moved  his  brigade, 
unobserved,  to  within  five  hundred  yards  of  a 
strong  enemy-force  he  knew  to  be  lying  in  wait. 
His  commanding  officer,  unaware  of  the  presence 
of  this  force,  ordered  Custer  to  charge,  but  Custer 
requested  to  be  allowed  to  choose  his  own  time, 
which  was  granted.  He  was  sure  the  enemy 
would  soon  have  to  shift  his  position  and  then 
he  intended  to  charge.  This  occurred  as  he  ex 
pected  and  he  charged  with  his  five  hundred  men 
with  sabers  alone.  Ignoring  a  volley  of  bullets, 
his  men  plunged  into  the  midst  of  the  foe,  slashing 


66     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

right  and  left,  and  taking  prisoners  faster  than 
they  could  be  sent  to  the  rear.  This  skillful 
charge,  breaking  the  enemy's  line,  decided  the 
day.  The  enemy  retreated.  The  battle  was  won. 
Darkness  prevented  pursuit  and  compelled  the 
Federals  to  go  into  camp.  Custer's  command 
had  captured  more  than  seven  hundred  prisoners, 
fifty-two  officers,  seven  battle  flags,  two  caissons, 
and  a  large  number  of  small  arms.  The  Federal 
loss  was  about  5000  men ;  the  Confederate  about 
4000. 

;  Sheridan  continued  to  drive  the  enemy  up  the 
valley,  having  another  battle  at  Fisher's  Hill, 
his  cavalry  penetrating  as  far  as  Staunton.  The 
march  down  the  big  valley  began  on  the  6th  of 
October.  Sheridan  destroyed  everything  as  he 
fell  back,  sparing  only  dwellings.  More  than  2000 
barns  full  of  wheat  and  hay,  and  more  than  seventy 
mills  full  of  wheat  and  flour,  were  burned,  while 
thousands  of  head  of  sheep  and  cattle  were  con 
fiscated.  Custer  took  the  road  nearest  the  Blue 
Ridge,  in  this  retiring  movement. 

On  September  26,  1864,  a  few  days  after  the 
battle  of  Winchester,  Custer  was  transferred  to 
the  head  of  the  Second  Division,  West  Virginia 
Cavalry,  taking  the  place  of  General  Averell. 
On  account  of  numerous  raiding  parties  he  could 


IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  VALLEY  67 

not  immediately  join  his  new  command,  and  went 
into  Staunton  with  General  Torbert.  On  Sep 
tember  28  another  change  was  ordered.  He  was 
assigned  to  the  Third  Division  to  take  the  place 
of  Wilson,  who  was  sent  out  to  Sherman's  army 
in  the  West.  This  was  the  same  division  that 
Kilpatrick  had  commanded  when  Custer  had  done 
much  brilliant  work  under  him. 

On  October  7,  at  Tom's  Brook,  Custer  and 
Merritt  had  a  sharp  brush  with  the  enemy  under 
the  indefatigable  Rosser,  whom  they  forced  back 
many  miles,  taking  from  him  three  hundred 
prisoners  and  eleven  guns.  These  actions  now 
took  on  something  of  the  character  of  a  great 
game  of  chess  between  Custer  and  his  former 
West  Point  chum.  Under  Montana  skies  they 
afterwards  found  much  interest  in  discussing  the 
game.  Rosser  harassed  the  Federals  most  skill 
fully  on  their  retreat  down  the  Shenandoah,  and 
his  feelings  may  be  imagined  when  he  saw  the 
fearful  ravages  caused  by  his  enemy  in  this  beau 
tiful  valley. 

October  9  opened  with  Rosser  pressing  the 
Federals  more  closely,  and  Sheridan  had  given 
orders  to  engage  him.  The  attack  fell  to  Custer 
and  Merritt.  Rosser  was  seen  occupying  a  hill, 
with  his  men  behind  stone  walls  at  the  base. 


68     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Custer  rode  far  out  in  front  of  his  line,  with  his 
staff,  says  Whittaker,  so  that  he  should  be  in 
plain  view,  and  made  a  sweeping  salute  with  his 
broad  hat  to  his  enemy-friend.  Rosser  sent  for 
his  staff.  "You  see  that  man  in  front  with  long 
hair?  Well,  that's  Custer  and  we  must  bust 
him  up  to-day!" 

But  Rosser  did  not  do  it.  On  the  contrary, 
after  some  severe  charges  the  Confederates  were 
forced  to  flee.  Custer  and  Merritt  pursued  them 
for  twenty-six  miles,  and  the  battle  became  known 
as  the  Woodstock  Races. 

In  Montana,  after  the  war,  Rosser,  lying  on  a 
buffalo  robe,  the  old  trouble  vanished  and  his 
friend  Custer  beside  him,  declared  that  this  was 
the  worst  whipping  he  received  during  the  war. 
Custer  even  captured  Rosser's  new  uniform  and 
sent  a  note  to  him,  thanking  him  for  it,  but  com 
plaining  that  the  coat  was  too  long  and  suggesting 
that  his  next  one  be  somewhat  shorter.  It  was 
the  custom  of  Custer  and  Rosser  to  leave  behind 
them  similarly  sarcastic  notes  here  and  there  on 
their  retreats. 

Sheridan  withdrew  to  Cedar  Creek  and  put  his 
army  in  camp  there  while  he  responded  to  a  sum 
mons  from  Washington.  At  the  same  time  the 
Confederate  leader,  General  Early,  made  up  his 


IN  THE  SHENANDOAH  VALLEY  69 

mind  to  open  an  offensive,  and  on  the  igth  of 
October,  1864,  in  the  misty  dawn,  the  Federal 
forces  suddenly  found  the  enemy  in  their  midst. 
The  attack  was  made  at  Crook's  end  of  the  line. 

There  was  immediate  confusion  here  as  the 
sleepy  men  roused.  They  were  demoralized  and 
they  did  the  first  thing  that  occurred  to  them; 
they  ran.  At  two  in  the  afternoon  they  were 
met  by  Sheridan  riding  at  full  speed  from  Win 
chester  ;  the  ride  which  the  poet  Read  has  im 
mortalized.  Dashing  through  the  disordered  crowd 
toward  the  front  he  shouted,  "Face  about,  boys! 
We're  going  back !  We  are  going  to  lick  them  out 
of  their  boots!"  He  found  Custer  ready.  "Go 
in,  Custer!"  he  shouted.  And  Custer  went  in. 
He  and  Merritt,  from  the  right  wing,  punished 
the  invaders  mercilessly.  The  plans  of  the  enemy 
had  been  frustrated  by  their  men  disobeying 
orders  and  halting  to  loot  the  deserted  camp  in 
stead  of  pushing  their  success. 

By  four  in  the  afternoon  the  tide  was  turned, 
and  Custer  with  his  entire  division  was  hammering 
furiously  upon  the  rear  of  the  retreating  foe.  He 
captured  forty-five  of  their  forty-eight  cannon  as 
well  as  several  hundred  prisoners.  For  this  he 
was  thanked  by  the  War  Department  in  a  special 
order.  He  was  ordered  to  go  to  Washington  with 


70  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   CUSTER 

the  flags  captured  by  the  cavalry,  each  flag  being 
borne  by  its  particular  captor.  There  he  was 
rewarded  by  the  brevet  of  major  general  of  volun 
teers,  as  was  also  his  friendly  rival,  Merritt. 

Mrs.  Custer  had  remained  in  Washington  during 
the  Shenandoah  campaign,  but  now  she  returned 
with  her  husband  to  his  headquarters  at  Win 
chester.  She  invariably  accompanied  him,  re 
gardless  of  discomfort  or  danger,  whenever  it  was 
possible  to  do  so. 


CHAPTER  IX 

CUSTER  AT  APPOMATTOX 

THE  autumn  of  1864  saw  Lincoln  reflected, 
and  the  North,  already  victorious,  determined 
that  the  war  should  end  on  no  other  basis  than 
the  complete  restoration  of  the  Union ;  in  other 
words,  the  settlement  of  the  vexed  question,  the 
right  of  a  state  to  secede,  in  the  negative,  as  well 
as  the  abolition  of  slavery.  McClellan  ran  on 
the  Democratic  ticket  against  Lincoln,  but  was 
defeated  and  retired  to  private  life.  Nothing 
more  of  public  importance  was  heard  of  "Little 
Mac." 

The  South  had  always  treated  manufacturing 
and  "  shopkeeping "  with  contempt,  though  just 
why  these  were  'any  more  degrading  than  slave- 
driving  was  never  explained.  Now  everything 
they  needed  had  to  be  brought  at  great  risk  through 
the  blockade.  It  was  stipulated  that  every 
blockade-runner  should  have  a  certain  proportion 
of  its  cargo  made  up  of  arms  and  ammunition. 
Under  these  circumstances  the  end  of  the  great 

71 


72  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

war  became  only  a  question  of  wearing  out  a 
stubborn  and  courageous  people. 

Several  attempts  were  made  by  the  Confederate 
leaders  to  negotiate  a  compromise  peace,  but 
Lincoln  would  entertain  none  of  them.  His 
only  terms  were  the  disbandment  of  the  rebel 
army  and  government;  the  abolition  of  slavery; 
and  the  recognition  of  the  indissolubility  of  the 
Union.  But  though  defeated  in  many  directions, 
the  Confederate  armies  were  not  ready  to  yield, 
and  until  the  armies  capitulated  or  were  destroyed 
there  could  be  no  peace.  Grant,  Sherman,  and 
Sheridan,  therefore,  early  in  1865,  opened  up  their 
campaigns  once  more. 

Sheridan  began  again  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
with  all  his  competent  generals,  including  Custer, 
and  moved  with  the  intention  of  reaching  Lynch- 
burg  and,  if  possible,  Sherman's  army  in  North 
Carolina.  His  total  strength  was  9484  seasoned 
men.  The  first  day  they  marched  thirty  miles 
to  Woodstock,  and  another  day  brought  them 
near  to  Harrisonburg,  at  which  point  Custer  had 
made  a  raid  a  month  or  two  before.  This  day 
his  division  was  in  advance,  also  on  the  next,  or 
third,  day.  Some  of  his  advance  were  engaged  by 
skirmishers  from  Rosser's  brigade,  but  the  en 
counters  were  of  small  consequence. 


CUSTER  AT  APPOMATTOX  73 

At  Kline's  Mills,  seven  miles  from  Staunton, 
it  was  learned  that  the  Confederate  force  under 
Early  had  gone  to  Waynesboro,  ten  miles  south 
east  of  Staunton,  on  the  south  branch  of  the 
Shenandoah  and  up  against  the  western  foot  of 
the  Blue  Ridge.  The  following  day  Custer  was 
ordered  to  proceed  to  Waynesboro  and  engage  the 
enemy  there.  The  day  set  in  with  a  driving  rain 
storm.  The  mud  was  deep  and  heavy.  Custer  went 
blithely  forward  with  three  brigades,  each  about 
1500  strong,  and  it  was  planned  that  he  should 
be  followed  by  two  other  brigades.  Reaching 
Waynesboro,  Custer  found  Early  in  a  well-selected 
position,  with  two  brigades  of  infantry  in  breast 
works  and  Rosser's  cavalry  ready  for  anything. 

Custer  gave  them  no  time  to  ponder  on  what 
he  was  to  do  or  what  they  were  to  do.  His  quick 
eye  took  in  every  point  of  the  situation  instantly 
and  his  mind  was  made  up.  He  sent  three  brigades 
around  the  left  flank  of  the  enemy,  while  with 
two  others  which  had  arrived  he  charged  the  works 
with  such  impetuosity  that  he  carried  them. 
Then  he  rushed  on  down  the  streets  of  Waynes 
boro,  never  halting  till  the  South  branch  of  the 
Shenandoah  had  been  crossed  in  Early's  rear. 
Here  he  re-formed  his  command  as  foragers  and 
held  the  south  bank  of  the  stream.  Then  he 


74     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

pursued  Early's  train  to  the  foot  of  the  Blue 
Ridge.  This  whirlwind  charge  had  taken  the 
Confederates  quite  off  their  feet.  Sheridan  re 
ported  that  "the  enemy  threw  down  their  arms 
and  surrendered  with  cheers  at  the  suddenness 
with  which  they  were  captured." 

Custer's  loss  was  slight.  He  captured  eleven 
guns,  two  hundred  wagons,  sixteen  hundred  prison 
ers,  and  seventeen  battle  flags.  Still  unsatisfied, 
he  went  on  over  the  Blue  Ridge  that  night  and 
pitched  his  tents  on  the  forbidden  eastern  slope. 

When  Sheridan  came,  the  march  was  continued, 
with  Custer  slashing  away  in  the  lead,  to  Char- 
lottesville  where  they  rested.  From  here  Custer 
and  Merritt  raided  the  surrounding  country, 
destroying  locks  in  the  canal,  the  James  River 
Canal  itself,  railways,  —  everything  that  was 
destructible  except  dwellings. 

At  Frederickshall  Custer  reached  the  Richmond 
&  Gordonsville  Railway  and  he  learned,  by  taking 
messages  from  the  wires,  that  Early  was  following 
Sheridan  with  two  hundred  cavalry  to  attack  at 
daylight.  A  regiment  was  sent  to  intercept  him 
but  he  escaped  by  swimming  the  South  Anna 
River.  By  this  time  his  army  was  gone,  and  as  a 
military  factor  one  of  the  best  Confederate  generals 
was  henceforth  out  of  the  war. 


CUSTER  AT  APPOMATTOX  75 

Custer  and  Merritt  had  nothing  to  interfere 
with  their  movements  north  of  Richmond  and 
Custer  ran  down  and  destroyed  a  railway  eleven 
miles  from  the  city.  All  this  time  Sheridan,  with 
the  remainder  of  the  army,  was  moving  toward 
Whitehouse,  on  the  Pamunkey,  only  a  short  dis 
tance  east  of  Richmond.  He  reached  it  the  ipth 
of  March,  1865;  and  found  gunboats  and  supplies 
waiting.  On  the  26th  of  March,  the  whole  com 
mand,  having  crossed  the  Peninsula  and  the 
Potomac,  joined  Grant  in  front  of  Petersburg 
where  he  was  conducting  a  siege.  The  cavalry 
came  in  the  next  day. 

Lee's  only  chance  to  escape  was  on  Grant's 
left,  and  by  means  of  a  ruse  he  tried  to  break 
through.  Where  the  men  were  only  a  hundred 
yards  apart,  numbers  of  deserters  had  come  over 
to  the  Federal  lines.  Some  of  Gordon's  men  then 
came  as  if  to  surrender,  but  they  seized  the  Federal 
pickets  instead,  making  way  for  a  charge.  This 
was  repelled,  but  it  cost  the  Confederates  about 
4000  men  and  Grant  half  as  many.  Sheridan 
was  now  sent  to  the  extreme  Confederate  right 
at  Five  Forks,  arriving  on  the  last  day  of  March. 
After  some  brief  but  bloody  righting,  he  gained 
Five  Forks  on  April  i,  taking  more  than  5000 
prisoners. 


76  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

The  end  of  the  Confederacy  was  now  in  sight. 
Petersburg  was  then  taken  from  Lee  by  the  Federal 
generals,  Wright  and  Parke,  in  a  determined 
assault.  This  caused  Lee  to  telegraph  to  the 
Richmond  authorities  to  vacate  that  city  and 
immediately  awful  confusion  reigned  there.  The 
City  Council  destroyed  hundreds  of  barrels  of 
liquor;  tobacco  warehouses  were  burned  by 
military  order;  ironclad  rams  in  the  river  were 
blown  up;  tipsy  soldiers  pillaged  the  town,  and 
there  was  nothing  but  riot  and  disorder  till  the 
Twelfth  Maine,  under  General  Weitzel,  entered  next 
morning,  April  3,  1865,  when  the  flag  of  the  Union 
was  run  up  once  more  on  the  capitol. 

Meanwhile,  Lee  was  rapidly  retreating  westward 
with  the  Federal  cavalry  at  his  heels.  He  was 
short  of  food,  and  when  he  tried  to  get  to  Burkes- 
ville  for  the  rations  he  had  ordered  there  by  tele 
graph,  Sheridan,  who  had  intercepted  the  message, 
was  across  his  road.  Lee  then  turned  toward 
Lynchburg,  to  reach  the  railway  at  Appomattox 
Station,  but  Custer  was  already  moving  on  Appo 
mattox  Station. 

On  the  way  there  and  not  a  mile  from  it,  two 
young  ladies  came  running  down  the  road  from  a 
fine  mansion,  screaming,  "They  are  robbing  us!" 
Without  a  word  Custer  dismounted  and  caught  a 


CUSTER  AT  APPOMATTOX  77 

soldier  in  the  Federal  uniform  coming  out  of  the 
door.  Giving  him  a  terrific  blow,  he  rushed  in 
and  saw  another  leaving  by  a  rear  door.  Catch 
ing  up  an  ax,  Custer  threw  it  and  hit  the  man  in 
the  back  of  the  head.  Directing  a  guard  to  be 
stationed  at  the  house,  he  rode  on.  Entering 
Appomattox  Station  he  captured  four  railway 
trains  out  of  the  seven  halted  there,  running  them 
back  to  Farmville. 

There  were  a  number  of  engagements  previous 
to  this  as  Lee  pushed  on,  trying  to  secure  a  strong 
defensive  position  and  supplies ;  but  Custer  hung 
on  like  a  bulldog,  fighting  him  successfully  in  the 
most  important  engagement  of  this  phase  of  the 
war,  at  a  place  called  Sailor's  Creek.  It  is  re 
ported  that  Sheridan  cried  out,  when  things  were 
not  going  to  suit  him,  "I  wish  old  Custer  were 
here;  he  would  have  been  into  the  enemy's  train 
before  this  time!"  "Old  Custer,"  then  twenty- 
five  years  old,  was  ordered  up,  and  with  his  men 
rode  right  over  the  breastworks,  breaking  the 
Confederate  line  irretrievably,  and  capturing  four 
hundred  wagons  (destroying  many  more),  sixteen 
guns,  and  a  host  of  prisoners.  Custer's  brother 
Tom  was  among  the  first  in  the  enemy's  works, 
taking  a  flag  from  its  bearer  whom  he  shot  as  a 
ball  cut  through  his  own  cheek  and  neck.  General 


78  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   CUSTER 

Robert  E.  Lee's  son  Custis  was  captured,  also 
General  Ewell. 

Custer  was  in  the  lead  at  Appomattox  Court 
House  on  the  morning  of  April  9,  1865,  with 
Sheridan's  forces  across  the  path  of  Lee's  retreat, 
when  a  white  flag  was  seen  coming  from  the 
enemy.  It  meant  a  momentous  message.  It  was 
a  towel  on  a  pole,  accompanied  by  a  request  from 
Lee  for  a  conference  on  surrender.  Custer  was 
later  presented  with  this  "flag"  and  ever  after 
treasured  it  as  a  souvenir. 

Lee  now  saw  that  the  Southern  cause  was  lost, 
and  he  was  too  big  and  too  humane  a  man  to  wish 
to  prolong  the  war  into  a  useless  struggle.  It 
was  arranged,  therefore,  that  he  should  meet 
Grant  at  a  little  house  on  the  edge  of  the  village 
belonging  to  Wilmer  McLean.  Lee  reached  the 
house  first  and  came  courteously  forward  as 
Grant  entered.  They  fell  into  a  conversation  on 
old  army  days  in  Mexico,  a  subject  which  Grant 
found  so  agreeable  that  he  almost  forgot  the  object 
of  the  meeting.  Lee  was  in  full  uniform  while 
Grant  had  on  a  private's  uniform  with  only  shoulder 
straps  indicating  rank.  He  was  dusty  and  dirty 
from  the  severe  work  of  the  last  few  days. 

The  terms  were  such  as  no  vanquished  army  had 
ever  been  given,  for  they  allowed  the  Confederate 


CUSTER  AT  APPOMATTOX  79 

forces  to  lay  down  their  arms  and  go  home,  those 
men  having  horses  being  permitted  to  retain  them. 

The  table  on  which  the  terms  of  surrender  were 
signed  became  historic,  and  General  Sheridan  pre 
sented  it  to  Mrs.  Custer,  with  a  letter  saying  he 
knew  of  "no  person  more  instrumental  in  bring 
ing  about  this  most  desirable  event  than  her  own 
gallant  husband." 

Custer's  work  in  this  field  was  now  done.  On 
the  day  of  the  surrender  he  issued  a  farewell  to 
his  troops,  the  Third  Cavalry  Division,  commend 
ing  their  success  and  their  valor.  They  had  never 
lost  a  color,  never  lost  a  gun,  and  had  never  been 
defeated.  All  he  asked  was  that  his  name  might 
be  written  as  that  of  the  Commander  of  the  Third 
Cavalry  Division. 

He  was  haggard  and  worn  from  his  tremendous 
and  continuous  exertions  and  he  needed  rest. 
Mrs.  Custer  hastened  down  to  meet  him,  and 
she  and  Mrs.  Pennington  rode  at  the  head  of  the 
column  back  to  Washington  where  the  whole 
army  passed  in  review  before  the  President. 

That  day  was  one  of  the  great  days  of  our 
nation.  The  Army  of  the  Potomac  came  first, 
with  General  Meade  leading.  Then  came  the 
cavalry  headed  by  Merritt,  Sheridan  having  al 
ready  started  for  the  Southwest.  Custer  was  at 


8o  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

the  head  of  his  famous  Third  Division.  As  he 
passed  the  Treasury  Building,  a  chorus  of  three 
hundred  young  girls  in  white  sang  "Hail  to  the 
Chief,"  and  showered  him  with  bouquets.  He 
tried  to  catch  some  of  the  flowers,  but  his  fractious 
horse  disliked  the  attention  and  bolted  at  top 
speed.  Off  came  Custer's  hat,  his  bright  curls 
streamed  in  the  sun,  and  it  was  not  till  the  Presi 
dent's  stand  was  passed  that  his  superb  horse 
manship  enabled  him  to  control  the  powerful 
brute  he  called  "Don  Juan."  He  was  greeted  by 
special  applause  as  he  rode  by  the  second  time, 
in  regular  order,  covered,  as  were  the  other  com 
manders  and  many  of  the  men,  with  garlands  of 
flowers. 

That  evening  Custer  rode  down  the  line,  waving 
his  hat  in  his  last  farewells  to  the  troops  of  the 
Third  Cavalry  Division  who  adored  their  "boy 
general."  Some  one  shouted,  "A  tiger  for  old 
Curly!"  All  hats  came  off  and  waved  wildly  in 
the  air  as  the  hearty  cheers  were  given.  "As  he 
rode  up  to  where  I  was  waiting,"  remarks  Mrs. 
Custer,  "he  could  not,  dared  not,  speak  to  me." 

Then  they  called  for  the  general's  wife,  but 
Mrs.  Custer,  though  she  tried  to  ride  out  into 
view,  could  not  bring  herself  to  do  it.  She  was 
too  much  overcome  to  endure  any  more.  "As 


CUSTER  AT  APPOMATTOX  81 

the  officers  gathered  about  the  general  and  wrung 
his  hand  in  parting,  to  my  surprise,"  she  says, 
"the  soldiers  gave  me  a  cheer.  Though  very 
grateful  for  the  tribute  to  me  as  their  acknowledged 
comrade,  I  did  not  feel  that  I  deserved  it." 

Custer  was  ordered  to  join  Sheridan  in  Texas. 
There  was  a  third  army  of  Confederates  down  that 
way,  still  holding  out,  that  needed  the  attention  of 
"  Old  Curly." 


CHAPTER  X 

TEXAS  AND  MAXIMILIAN 

CUSTER  now  turned  his  back  on  the  Virginia 
field  of  his  remarkable  exploits  as  a  cavalry  officer, 
as  he  was  needed  by  Sheridan  in  crushing  out  the 
last  armed  opposition  lingering  in  the  Southwest. 
With  his  full  major-general's  pay  and  allowances, 
he  was  in  exceedingly  comfortable  circumstances, 
the  pay  alone  amounting  to  about  eight  thousand 
dollars  a  year.  He  had  well  earned  all  that  he 
was  allowed.  There  is  nothing  so  discouraging 
to  the  soldier  who  has  risked  his  life  for  years, 
and  unfitted  himself  for  sedentary  occupation, 
as  to  find  himself  without  an  income,  with  no 
way  of  earning  one,  and  with  nobody  caring 
whether  he  has  one  or  not.  He  learns  that  while 
war  is  war,  business  is  business  and  has  no  sym 
pathy  or  sentiment ;  and  war  is  not  a  permanent 
occupation.  Thousands  of  contractors  get  rich  in 
a  war,  but  soldiers  come  home  poorer  than  when 
they  left  and  are  placed  at  a  tremendous  disad 
vantage. 

82 


TEXAS  AND   MAXIMILIAN  83 

With  Mrs.  Custer,  his  staff,  horses,  and  such 
baggage  as  he  desired  to  take,  Custer  went  by  rail 
from  Washington  to  Louisville  on  the  Ohio  River, 
where  the  party  embarked  on  a  river  steamer  for 
New  Orleans.  At  one  of  the  stopping-places  the 
ex-Confederate  General  Hood  came  on  board  for 
a  short  journey,  during  which  he  introduced  him 
self  to  General  Custer,  and  they  had  an  interesting 
time.  After  the  war  the  animosities  seemed  far 
stronger  among  those  who  did  no  actual  fighting. 
Of  this  meeting  Mrs.  Custer  remarks,  "They  looked 
as  if  they  were  old-time  friends  happily  united." 

Arriving  in  New  Orleans,  the  city  George  W. 
Cable  has  enshrined  so  beautifully  in  his  books, 
they  found  Sheridan  in  command  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  the  Mississippi.  He  was  comfortably 
established  in  a  delightful  mansion  where  he 
entertained  the  Custers  at  dinner.  Afterwards 
he  and  Custer  went  over  the  plans  for  the  cam 
paign  that  was  expected  to  follow.  When  all 
was  ready,  Custer,  with  Mrs.  Custer  and  his 
staff,  took  passage  on  a  steamer  chartered  for  the 
purpose,  while  another  steamer  in  advance  carried 
the  troops. 

Finally  they  arrived  at  a  place  called  Alexandria 
where  an  abandoned  house  was  appropriated  for 
headquarters.  The  faithful  Eliza,  who  had  ac- 


84  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

companied  the  general  and  his  wife  through  every 
circumstance,  rain  or  shine,  shot  or  shell,  was 
still  with  them,  and  the  faithful  soul  knew  how  to 
bring  comfort  out  of  the  barest  surroundings.  She 
was  colored,  but  no  white  skin  ever  inclosed  a 
bigger  heart  or  a  more  devoted  helper. 

Troops  were  brought  from  various  directions  to 
this  point  and  Custer  endeavored  to  make  a  re 
spectable  fighting  force  out  of  them.  He  had  an 
immense  task  to  which  was  added  the  problem 
of  keeping  the  peace  with  ex-Confederate  soldiers. 
General  Kirby  Smith,  with  the  last  remnant  of 
the  Confederate  Army,  had  surrendered,  but  there 
were  other  reasons  now  for  the  presence  of  United 
States  troops  in  Texas.  One  was  the  restoration 
of  order,  but  another  was  that  a  monarchy  had 
been  set  up  in  Mexico  under  Maximilian,  backed 
by  the  French  emperor,  Napoleon  III.  This  was 
contrary  to  the  desire  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  Civil  War  being  ended,  it  was  the  intention 
to  drive  Maximilian  out  and  restore  to  Mexico 
the  republican  form  of  government. 

From  Alexandria,  therefore,  the  command  moved 
further  down  toward  the  Mexican  border,  Mrs. 
Custer  going  along  with  the  troops  across  the 
hot,  dry  country.  The  command  was  halted  at 
Hempstead  for  recuperation.  Here  Sheridan  came 


TEXAS  AND  MAXIMILIAN  85 

and  commended  Custer  for  the  excellent  condition 
of  the  4000  men  under  him  and  placed  him  in 
command  of  all  the  cavalry  in  the  state.  Custer's 
father  joined  him  here  and  censured  him  for 
allowing  his  wife  to  accompany  him  in  this  desolate 
land,  but  as  the  wife  had  much  to  say  for  herself 
on  this  point,  his  remarks  had  no  effect. 

The  planters  round  about  were  sportsmen,  and 
finding  Custer  of  similar  taste,  they  invited  him 
to  go  with  them  on  their  hunts.  They  all  had 
packs  of  hounds  and  Custer  was  so  delighted  with 
the  way  the  hounds  responded  to  each  master's 
particular  horn  that  he  bought  a  horn  and  was 
presented  with  five  hounds.  Then  his  brother 
Tom  got  a  horn  also,  and  the  two  practiced,  with 
the  hounds  howling  in  unison,  till  the  novices 
mastered  the  art  and  could  dash  away  in  graceful 
abandon,  sounding  their  horns,  with  the  dogs 
joyously  yelping,  to  the  meet.  Custer  was  never 
without  a  pack  of  hounds  in  the  West  after  this. 

In  November,  1865,  the  command  moved  on  to 
Austin,  Texas,  and  the  march  was  accomplished 
in  stages  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles  a  day. 
Custer  had  thirteen  regiments  of  infantry  and  an 
equal  number  of  cavalry  scattered  all  over  Texas, 
regulating  affairs  and  preventing  lawlessness  on 
the  part  of  bandits  and  outlaws,  who  were  inclined 


86  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

to  think  they  could  have  things  their  own  way 
without  hindrance  by  the  government. 

At  length  the  civil  authorities  got  their  grip  on 
things,  the  cloud  on  the  Mexican  horizon  dimin 
ished,  and  Custer  was  mustered  out  of  service  as 
a  major  general  of  volunteers  in  March,  1866. 
He  was  now  only  a  captain  in  the  regular  army 
on  leave,  and  he  returned  to  Monroe.  His  in 
come  at  once  fell  to  about  two  thousand  a  year 
with  a  small  allowance  for  quarters.  This  did 
not  suit  him  any  more  than  the  prospect  of  a  quiet 
life,  so  when  the  Mexican  military  leader,  Carvajal, 
offered  him  the  position  of  adjutant  general  of 
Mexico,  in  the  struggle  against  Maximilian,  with 
double  the  pay  in  gold  of  an  officer  of  that  rank  in  the 
United  States  army,  Custer  was  inclined  to  accept. 

He  was  also  to  raise  a  command  of  one  or  two 
thousand  veteran  American  soldiers  to  serve  under 
him.  In  order  to  profit  by  this  offer,  he  would 
have  to  resign  from  the  army,  as  his  government 
refused  to  grant  him  the  necessary  leave  of  ab 
sence  for  a  year.  Maximilian,  left  to  his  fate  by 
Napoleon's  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops  from 
Mexico,  was  soon  captured  and  executed  by  the 
Mexicans,  even  without  Ouster's  aid,  but  Custer  had 
the  satisfaction  of  having  been  thoroughly  indorsed 
by  General  Grant  who  wrote,  May  16,  1866,  to  the 


TEXAS  AND  MAXIMILIAN  87 

Mexican  minister  specifically  that  he  would  indorse 
Custer's  application  favorably  for  leave  of  absence. 
"  Please  understand,  then,"  he  wrote,  "  that  I  mean 
by  this  to  indorse  General  Custer  in  a  high  degree." 

Mrs.  Custer  did  not  approve  of  the  Mexican 
project,  either,  and  this,  with  his  own  govern 
ment's  objection,  prevented  Custer  from  going 
into  the  venture. 

Mrs.  Custer's  father  had  become  a  great  admirer 
of  the  general.  To  his  daughter  he  said:  "My 
child,  put  no  obstacles  in  the  way  to  the  fulfillment 
of  his  destiny.  He  chose  his  profession.  He  is  a 
born  soldier.  There  he  must  abide." 

Just  at  this  time,  when  Custer  was  absent  from 
Monroe  in  May,  1866,  on  business,  the  judge  was 
taken  ill  and  died.  His  last  words  to  his  daughter 
were  to  urge  her  to  do  her  duty  as  a  soldier's  wife. 
Mrs.  Custer  had  begun  to  feel,  perhaps,  that  a 
soldier's  career  was  a  difficult  one  for  his  family, 
and  she  says  that  in  her  maiden  days  it  had  never 
occurred  to  her  that  people  could  become  so 
attached  to  each  other  that  it  would  be  misery 
to  be  separated.  The  suspense  and  loneliness  of 
the  war  days  had  affected  her  deeply,  but  never 
theless  she  did  not  waver  in  her  desire  to  be  with 
her  husband  whenever  possible,  and  in  the  years 
that  followed  she  was  seldom  far  away. 


88  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

In  July,  1866,  Custer  received  a  commission 
as  Lieutenant  Colonel  of  the  newly  organized 
Seventh  Cavalry,  and  still  having  the  desire  to 
go  to  Mexico,  he  went  in  August  to  Buffalo  to 
consult  President  Johnson  who  was  then  making 
his  noted  tour  of  the  country.  Mrs.  Custer  ac 
companied  him.  When  they  met,  the  President 
ordered  Custer  and  his  wife  to  accompany  his 
party.  They  visited  many  cities  and  it  is  related 
that  Johnson  insisted  on  Custer's  always  occupy 
ing  an  adjoining  room  to  his  own,  for  protection, 
as  he  feared  assassination.  As  soon  as  possible 
Custer  extricated  himself  and  returned  to  Monroe. 

He  attended  numerous  reunions  of  war  veterans 
at  this  period,  but  he  was  not  a  speechmaker.  In 
an  emergency  he  was  wont  to  suggest  three  cheers 
for  "the  Old  Brigade,"  or,  if  there  was  a  band,  to 
call  for  "Garryowen,"  his  favorite  charging  tune. 
The  words  to  this  were  not  very  sensible,  any 
more  than  those  of  "Yankee  Doodle,"  or  "Dixie," 
but  the  final  stanza  was  rather  appropriate: 

"Our  hearts  so  stout  have  got  us  fame, 
For  soon  'tis  known  from  whence  we  came ; 
Where  e'er  we  go  they  dread  the  name, 
Of  Garryowen  in  glory !" 

"Garryowen"  was  now  to  make  the  echoes  ring 
under  new  skies  and  lead  on  to  meet  a  different  foe. 


CHAPTER  XI 

RED  MEN  AND  WHITE 

THE  enemy  which  Custer  heretofore  had  met 
and  battled  with  so  successfully  was  of  an  entirely 
different  character  from  the  one  he  was  to  en 
counter  when  the  order  came  for  him  to  report  to 
Fort  Garland,  Colorado,  in  October,  1866,  an 
order  quickly  changed  to  Fort  Riley,  Kansas,  for 
the  same  purpose.  His  former  foes  were  his  late 
classmates  and  kinsmen,  and  the  conflict  was 
over  a  great  political  question.  The  new  foe  was 
of  another  race  and  color,  and  the  conflict  was  to 
determine  whether  the  red  man  was  to  submit  to 
dictation,  to  allow  his  game  to  be  destroyed,  and 
his  home  to  be  appropriated  by  the  whites.  If 
might  makes  right,  then  the  red  man  had  no  rights. 
If  sitting  at  a  machine  in  a  dingy  factory  ten  hours 
a  day  is  a  nobler  occupation  than  living  happily 
under  the  open  sky,  then  the  red  man  had  no  title 
to  happiness  or  lands. 

The  white  men  could  utilize  the  land  to  better 
89 


go     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

advantage  than  the  red  men  could.  At  least  the 
red  men  were  in  the  way  of  the  white  men,  and 
the  latter  thought  that  sufficient  reason  for  de 
stroying  them.  They  wanted  the  land  to  raise 
more  corn,  to  feed  more  men,  to  work  in  more 
factories ;  to  make  more  machines,  to  till  more 
land,  to  raise  more  corn,  to  feed  more  men,  to 
work  in  more  factories ;  and  so  on,  until  all  the 
forests  and  all  the  waterfalls  should  be  destroyed, 
all  the  rivers  polluted  with  sewage,  all  the  banks 
made  hideous,  and  every  few  miles  a  group  of 
ugly  dwellings  and  factories  surrounded  by  tin 
cans,  dirt,  disorder,  and  disease.  The  white  man 
thought  these  things  good ;  he  thought  the  red 
man  ought  to  think  so  too,  and  he  proceeded  to 
instill  an  appreciation  of  such  blessings  into  the 
red  man  with  rifle  balls.  On  his  part,  the  red 
man  thought  the  white  man  a  nuisance  and  an 
interloper.  The  red  man  was  proud.  He  was 
courageous.  He  was  skillful  in  fighting  even  when 
he  had  only  lances  and  the  bow-and-arrow  to 
match  against  the  white  man's  rifle.  He  was 
often  slaughtered  in  numbers.  But  he  learned. 
He  bought  rifles  and  used  them  well,  and  he  made 
the  white  man  pay  in  blood  for  the  land  taken ; 
and  when  the  white  man  had  finally  broken  him 
and  covered  his  land  with  factories,  then  the 


RED   MEN  AND  WHITE  91 

white  man  began  to  hark  back  to  the  life  of  the 
red  man  for  safety  from  the  life  of  the  shop. 

"When  I  am  gone  and  my  warnings  are  no 
longer  heeded,"  said  Red  Jacket,  "the  craft  and 
avarice  of  the  white  man  will  prevail.  My  heart 
fails  me  when  I  think  of  my  people  so  soon  to  be 
scattered  and  forgotten." 

The  foe  with  which  Custer  now  was  to  battle 
was  the  Plains  Indians,  and  chief  among  these  were 
the  Cheyennes  and  the  Sioux,  ranging  from  Minne 
sota  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  south  into 
Texas.  They  were  living  in  the  purely  hunter 
state,  and  their  lives  and  government  conformed 
to  that  stage  of  man's  development.  Subsistence 
on  game  requires  a  wide  acreage,  and  there  is  no 
way  of  improving  on  this  except  by  tilling  the 
soil.  Nearly  all  the  tribes  in  the  United  States 
had  long  supplemented  their  game  and  meat 
supply  by  raising  corn,  beans,  and  squash,  but 
these  tribes  of  the  plains  had  enormous  herds  of 
wild  cattle  called  buffalo,  or  bison,  from  which 
they  obtained  everything  they  required,  —  food, 
clothing,  and  shelter,  —  and  therefore  they  gave 
no  heed  to  planting. 

When  they  saw  the  effect  on  their  property  of 
the  white  man's  advance,  they  were  alarmed. 
They  made  treaties  with  the  white  man's  govern- 


92  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

ment  which  were  intended  to  keep  certain  parts 
of  the  land  forever  in  the  hands  of  the  Indian  for 
his  comfort  and  subsistence,  but  there  were  too 
many  white  men  who  needed  more  land  on  which 
to  grow  more  corn,  to  feed  more  men,  to  make 
more  machines,  and  the  white  man's  government 
repudiated  the  compacts  with  the  red  man's  gov 
ernment.  Then  the  policy  became  the  extermina 
tion  of  the  red  man,  or  putting  him  in  a  pen  and 
feeding  him,  or  perhaps  half  starving  him. 

This  was  the  undertaking  that  now  fell  to  Custer. 
He  was  a  soldier  and  he  entered  upon  the  work 
with  his  customary  skill  and  good  judgment. 
General  Grant,  General  Sherman,  and  General 
Sheridan  all  had  a  sublime  contempt  for  anything 
Indian.  Sheridan  said  that  "the  only  good  Indian 
was  a  dead  Indian,"  and  Sherman  declared  that 
"We  must  act  with  vindictive  earnestness  against 
the  Sioux,  even  to  their  extermination,  —  men, 
women,  and  children." 

Two  years  before  the  advent  of  Custer  on  the 
plains,  there  had  occurred  the  Chivington  massacre 
—  not  a  massacre  of  white  men  by  Indians,  but 
a  slaughter,  by  Colorado  troops,  of  Chief  Black 
Kettle's  band  of  Cheyennes.  This  band  had  been 
induced  by  the  authorities  of  the  Territory  of 
Colorado  to  go  to  Fort  Lyon  in  southeastern 


RED  MEN  AND  WHITE  93 

Colorado.  While  there,  virtually  under  the  pro 
tection  of  the  government,  Black  Kettle  observed 
one  morning  the  approach  of  a  large  force  of 
Colorado  militia.  It  was  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Chivington.  Black  Kettle,  as  he  had 
been  told  to  do  on  meeting  troops  on  the  plains, 
ran  up  to  the  top  of  his  lodge  an  American  flag 
with  a  white  flag  under  it.  Mr.  Smith,  the  in 
terpreter,  supposing  these  were  strange  troops 
unaware  of  the  character  of  the  Indians,  went 
out  to  explain.  He  was  fired  on,  and  then,  says 
the  report  of  the  government  investigating  com 
mittee,  "the  scene  of  murder  and  barbarity  began 
—  men,  women,  and  children  [quite  in  the  style 
which  General  Sherman  advocated]  were  indis 
criminately  slaughtered.  .  .  .  Not  content  with 
killing  women  and  children,  who  were  incapable 
of  offering  any  resistance,  the  soldiers  indulged 
in  acts  of  barbarity  of  the  most  revolting  character, 
such,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  as  never  before  disgraced 
the  acts  of  men  claiming  to  be  civilized.  .  .  . 
For  more  than  two  hours  the  work  of  murder 
and  barbarity  was  continued,  until  more  than 
one  hundred  dead  bodies,  three  fourths  of  them 
women  and  children,  lay  on  the  plain  as  evidences 
of  the  fiendish  malignity  and  cruelty  of  the  officers 
who  had  sedulously  and  carefully  plotted  the 


94  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

massacre,  and  of  the  soldiers  who  had  so  faith 
fully  acted  out  the  spirit  of  their  officers."  1 

After  this  can  we  expect  to  find  Black  Kettle, 
and  the  Cheyennes  who  escaped  with  their  lives, 
of  a  modest  and  shrinking  disposition?  No. 
Black  Kettle  soon  became  known  far  and  wide 
as  the  "murderous"  Black  Kettle,  and  the  follow 
ing  year,  1865,  was  called  the  "  Bloody  Year  on 
the  Plains."  Black  Kettle's  stepdaughter  had 
married  George  Bent,  son  of  the  well-known 
frontiersman  William  Bent,  and  Owl-Woman,  a 
Cheyenne.  He  had  gone  from  school  to  join  the 
Confederate  Army  under  Price,  was  captured, 
paroled,  and  turned  over  to  his  father.  Then  he 
went  to  live  with  the  Cheyennes. 

The  government  had  built  forts  and  was  build 
ing  more,  and  many  millions  of  dollars  were  spent 
in  the  fight  to  exterminate  the  Indian.  Nobody 
thought  of  treating  him  honestly  and  fairly.  A 
policy  of  forcing  them  on  reservations  was  adopted, 
with  agents  to  represent  the  government,  the 
agents  receiving  the  positions,  not  for  ability  or 
knowledge  of  Indians,  but  as  rewards  for  political 
jobbery.  Their  salaries  were  small  but  they  were 

1  Massacre  of  Cheyenne  Indians,  Report  of  Joint  Committee 
on  the  Conduct  of  the  War,  38th  Congress,  20  Session,  Jan.  10, 
1865. 


RED   MEN  AND  WHITE  95 

expected  to  steal  all  they  could;  and  with  few 
exceptions  they  nobly  lived  up  to  the  expectations. 
The  Indians  knew  they  were  thieves ;  so  did  every 
body  else.  The  government,  too,  failed  repeatedly 
to  keep  its  promises.  On  one  occasion  Chief 
Spotted  Tail,  in  a  council  with  one  of  the  Com 
missioners,  sprang  up  and  said,  "All  the  men. who 
come  from  Washington  are  liars,  and  the  bald- 
headed  ones  are  the  worst  of  all.  I  don't  want 
to  hear  one  word  from  you,  you  are  a  bald-headed 
old  liar."  He  then  said  if  the  government's 
promise  was  not  carried  out  in  ten  days,  he  would 
go  on  the  warpath  with  4000  warriors.  The 
promise  was  kept ! 

The  buffalo  which  had  existed  in  such  astonish 
ing  numbers  were  slaughtered  by  white  hunters 
for  hides  and  tallow.  One  man  killed,  in  eighteen 
months,  4280  head !  At  this  rate  the  Sioux  saw 
they  would  soon  be  robbed  of  their  one  source 
of  food  and  supplies. 

This,  in  a  general  way,  was  the  situation  when 
Custer  was  ordered  to  Fort  Riley,  Kansas,  in  the 
autumn  of  1866,  to  begin  a  campaign.  He  was 
anything  but  a  cruel  man,  but  he  was  expected 
to  make  his  war  effective  and  he  did.  One  of 
his  duties  was  the  protection  of  the  building  gangs 
of  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railway,  then  being  pushed 


96  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

toward  Denver.  The  Indians  were  opposed  to 
the  building  of  railways,  as  they  saw  clearly 
enough  that  the  railroads  made  it  easier  for  their 
enemies  to  come  into  their  country  and  extermi 
nate  them.  For  the  same  reason  the  government 
desired  the  roads  to  be  speedily  built.  Fort 
Riley,  where  Custer  had  been  ordered,  was  for 
the  time  being  the  end  of  the  track.  On  both 
the  Kansas  Pacific  and  the  Union  Pacific  these 
temporary  terminals,  as  the  roads  were  building, 
were  a  disgrace  to  civilization.  The  army  had 
no  control  and  there  was  no  other.  Gambling, 
drunkenness,  murder,  and  every  other  kind  of 
wickedness  the  white  man  is  capable  of  flourished 
in  these  places  as  tadpoles  flourish  in  a  slimy 
pool. 

The  new  cavalry  regiment  organized  that  year, 
the  Seventh  Cavalry,  afterwards  became  famous 
under  Custer.  He  was  appointed  Lieutenant 
Colonel  of  it  by  President  Johnson,  and  the  officers 
were  all  experienced  and  excellent  men.  Some  of 
the  privates  had  been  in  the  Confederate  Army. 
Custer  took  to  the  frontier  life  with  marvelous 
quickness  and  soon  became  the  equal  of  many  a 
scout  who  had  spent  his  life  in  the  West.  He 
gave  the  undisciplined  regiment  a  severe  polish 
ing  up,  and  attacked  the  curse  of  drunkenness 


RED   MEN  AND   WHITE  97 

so  vigorously  that  he  either  reformed  an  officer 
or  a  private  or  else  compelled  him  to  resign. 

It  was  not  all  hard  work,  for  Custer  had  brought 
his  horses  and  his  dogs  along,  and  there  were 
rides  and  hunts  as  occasion  permitted;  but  these 
could  not  be  continued  very  far  without  danger 
from  some  lurking  party  of  Indians. 

The  commander  of  this  military  department 
was  General  Hancock,  and  in  the  spring  of  1867 
he  organized  an  expedition  against  the  Indians 
to  teach  them  not  to  interfere  with  travelers  by 
stage  to  Denver,  with  the  mail-carriers,  or  with 
any  party  journeying  across  the  plains.  The 
stage  company  had  established  stations  at  in 
tervals,  and  sometimes  the  Indians  attacked  these 
stations  and  robbed  and  burned  them.  There 
was  little  cooperation  between  the  Indian  Depart 
ment  and  the  War  Department,  showing  a  mar 
velous  stupidity  somewhere,  so  they  often  worked 
at  cross-purposes.  The  War  Department  tried 
to  kill  the  Indians  into  submission;  the  Indian 
Department  through  its  agents  wheedled  them, 
and  swindled  them,  and  lied  to  them,  and  sup 
plied  them  with  guns  and  ammunition  with  which 
they  killed  soldiers. 

There  was  war  between  the  Cheyennes  and  the 
whites,  and  the  Cheyennes  did  exactly  as  white 


g8     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

men  do  when  they  go  to  war;  they  resorted  to 
all  kinds  of  murder  and  treachery  in  order  to 
carry  their  point.  The  white  men  excused  them 
selves  on  the  plea  that  war  was  necessary  and 
that  all  was  fair  in  war,  but  they  excused  nothing 
in  the  Indian.  He  was  merely  a  low,  treacherous, 
bloody  savage  when  he  did  what  we  know  white 
men  did  for  four  long,  savage  years  against  each 
other  in  the  East.  Some  one  had  to  pay  the 
penalty.  We  shall  see  that  war  with  Indians  is 
much  like  war  with  white  men.  War,  in  fact,  is 
nothing  but  concentrated  brutality,  no  matter 
who  is  carrying  it  on,  and  is  the  purely  animal 
way  of  settling  disputes  or  carrying  on  a  conquest. 


CHAPTER  XII 

RESTLESS  RED  MEN 

"!N  one  respect,"  remarks  Mrs.  Custer,  "  there 
never  was  such  a  life  as  ours;  it  was  eminently 
one  of  partings."  One  of  these  many  separations 
took  place  in  the  spring  of  1867.  General  Han 
cock,  commander  of  the  department,  was  to  sally 
forth  from  Fort  Riley  to  prove  to  the  Indians  that 
the  government  was  able  to  punish  them  if  they 
molested  travelers  or  were  otherwise  hostile. 
Black  Kettle's  band,  of  course,  was  among  the 
foremost  in  the  trouble.  There  was  no  doubt 
that  the  situation  was  ominous.  It  was  now  a 
question  of  how  to  remedy  it,  and  if  the  Indian 
Department  could  not  do  it  peaceably,  the  War 
Department  intended  to  do  it  the  other  way. 

The  expedition,  made  up  of  eight  troops  of 
cavalry,  seven  companies  of  infantry,  and  one 
battery  of  light  artillery,  making  in  all  about  1400 
men,  marched  away  to  the  tune  of  "The  Girl 
I  Left  Behind  Me,"  while  the  wives  watched  in  a 
silence  broken  only  by  sobs. 

99 


loo    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

The  "  Indian  Ring,"  as  the  men  in  Washington 
and  elsewhere  were  called  who  were  making  large 
sums  of  money  out  of  the  manipulation  of  govern 
ment  money  (and  some  of  these  men  were  very 
high  up  in  public  office),  naturally  had  about  the 
same  feelings  toward  Hancock  and  Custer  that 
the  Indians  had.  The  great  failing  in  our  public 
officials  has  always  been  their  readiness  to  sub 
ordinate  the  public  interest  to  personal  gain  of 
the  most  questionable  character,  and  in  this  whole 
Indian  business  they  were  often  shameless. 

Hancock's  idea  was  to  secure,  if  possible,  a 
conference  with  the  chiefs  and  impress  upon  them 
as  well  as  he  could  the  necessity  of  their  stopping 
their  depredations,  and  their  danger  of  destruction 
if  they  did  not.  He  therefore  tried  to  get  in  touch 
with  them  at  the  earliest  moment  and  arranged 
for  a  council.  He  marched  ninety  miles  west 
past  Fort  Barker  and  then  on  about  seventy  miles 
southeast  to  Fort  Larned.  A  hard  snowstorm 
came  on  while  the  command  was  in  camp.  Al 
though  the  day  was  the  gth  of  April,  the  snow 
fell  to  a  depth  of  eight  inches.  The  Cheyennes 
and  some  Sioux  were  camped  about  thirty  miles 
away,  and  they  began  immediately  to  maneuver 
to  keep  this  distance  between  themselves  and  the 
enemy.  They  did  it  by  diplomacy.  They  said 


RESTLESS  RED   MEN  IOI 

they  had  started  to  attend  the  conference,  but 
finding  a  large  herd  of  buffalo  they  had  stopped 
to  hunt. 

Hancock  moved  nearer  to  the  Indians,  who  set 
fire  to  the  dry  grass  to  prevent  the  troops  from 
getting  forage  for  the  horses,  and  then  several  of 
the  chiefs,  Pawnee  Killer,  White  Horse,  and  others, 
came  to  meet  the  General. 

They  agreed  to  a  conference  next  day  in  the 
morning,  but  the  hour  passed  without  their  arrival. 
There  were  more  excuses  and  at  eleven  o'clock 
the  army  continued  toward  the  Indian  camp. 
They  had  not  gone  far  before  they  saw  the  enemy 
in  line  of  battle  directly  in  front,  most  of  them 
mounted  and  in  their  most  brilliant  uniforms; 
war-bonnets  on  their  heads,  lances  decked  with 
crimson  pennants,  bows  and  arrows  ready,  and 
each  one  holding  in  addition  a  breech-loading 
rifle  or  a  revolver,  " obtained,"  says  Custer, 
"  through  the  wise  forethought  and  strong  love 
of  fair  play  which  prevails  in  the  Indian  Depart 
ment." 

This  battle-line  extended  far  to  the  right  and 
left,  about  half  a  mile  in  front  of  the  soldiers, 
who  were  ordered  to  form  in  line  of  battle  also, 
the  cavalry  swinging  into  line  on  the  gallop,  their 
shining  sabers  flashing  out  as  the  infantry  brought 


102  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

their  rifles  to  "carry."  The  ground  was  clear 
and  level;  the  situation  was  tense.  Hancock 
sent  a  messenger  asking  the  chiefs  to  meet  him 
half-way,  and,  bearing  a  white  flag,  about  a  dozen 
of  them  rode  forward.  After  some  hand-shaking 
and  the  usual  "How-how!"  they  declared  they 
did  not  want  war,  and  a  council  was  arranged  to 
take  place  at  the  Indian  village.  On  arriving, 
Hancock  found  that  all  women  and  children  had 
been  removed.  This  was  suspicious.  The  chiefs 
explained  that  they  feared  a  massacre;  and  re 
membering  their  experience  with  Colonel  Chiving- 
ton,  it  would  seem  that  their  fears  had  reason  in 
them.  The  chiefs  volunteered  to  bring  the  whole 
camp  back  and  departed  at  seven  in  the  evening. 

It  was  discovered  later  that  they  were  prepar 
ing  to  leave  the  village,  and  in  the  night  Custer 
was  awakened  and  was  ordered  to  surround  the 
place  with  his  cavalry  and  prevent  their  escape. 
All  chance  of  noise  was  guarded  against.  The 
white  conical  lodges  being  glimpsed  from  time  to 
time,  Custer  made  a  detour  and  presently  had  a 
great  circle  of  his  mounted  men  around  the  place. 
The  moon,  which  had  been  screened  by  clouds, 
suddenly  came  out,  and  the  men  could  be  seen 
sitting  their  horses  like  statues,  with  the  dark 
foliage  of  the  cottonwood  trees,  in  which  the 


RESTLESS  RED  MEN  103 

camp  was  pitched,  in  contrast;  the  murmuring 
of  a  Httle  stream  was  the  only  sound  to  be  heard. 

Custer  with  several  of  his  officers  crept  forward 
on  hands  and  knees  till  at  a  proper  point,  when 
some  dogs  barked  and  the  interpreter  called  out. 
Only  the  barking  dogs  replied.  Thinking  the 
Indians  might  be  waiting  in  the  shadows,  the 
soldiers  nevertheless  decided  to  creep  nearer. 
Listening  again,  they  concluded,  and  rightly,  that 
the  Indians  had  vanished.  The  lodges  were 
empty  excepting  for  a  little  girl  and  one  infirm 
old  man.  The  Indians  plainly  had  no  confidence 
in  any  promises  the  troop  commanders  might 
make.  Custer  was  sent  to  pursue  them,  but  after 
a  day  or  so  the  trail  vanished,  and  he  found  him 
self  in  a  wide,  barren  region  with  no  water  any 
where  except  at  the  rear. 

During  this  pursuit  Custer,  with  his  dogs  and 
chief  bugler,  went  ahead  to  test  the  speed  of  the 
fleet  greyhounds,  as  he  saw  that  the  Indians  were 
far  in  advance.  They  sighted  antelope,  the  plains 
then  being  thick  with  them,  and  in  a  few  moments 
the  bugler  was  left  behind.  The  race  ran  far. 
The  dogs  got  winded  and  Custer  called  them  off. 
He  was  alone  with  an  empty  horizon  save  for  a 
large  buffalo  a  mile  away.  The  temptation  was 
too  great  for  the  sportsman,  as  this  was  his  first 


104  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

sight  of  this  big  game.  Away  they  raced,  horse 
and  buffalo,  finally  side  by  side.  Even  the  hounds 
were  left  behind.  There  was  nothing  in  all  the 
immense  expanse  but  Custer  and  his  one  great 
buffalo.  All  of  a  sudden  the  beast  wheeled  for  a 
charge,  and  in  the  attempt  to  control  his  horse, 
Ouster's  ready  revolver  was  discharged  into  the 
brain  of  his  mount,  instead  of  into  the  buffalo. 
The  horse  fell  dead,  while  Custer  was  flung  head 
long  to  the  ground. 

When  he  gained  his  feet,  not  even  the  buffalo 
was  near.  Where  to  go  he  did  not  know  —  all 
directions  looked  alike.  Then  his  dogs  came  up 
and  he  followed  the  way  they  indicated,  guided 
by  the  dead  body  of  the  horse  as  long  as  it  was 
visible.  After  three  or  four  miles  of  marching, 
he  perceived  some  horsemen,  whom  he  scanned, 
he  says,  with  more  anxiety  than  he  ever  did  an 
approaching  column  of  the  enemy  during  the  late 
war.  Presently  he  was  relieved  to  see  his  cavalry 
guidon  flying,  and  he  was  soon  with  his  command, 
sending  a  squad  back  on  his  track  for  his  saddle 
and  bridle. 

Meanwhile,  information  came  to  Hancock  that 
the  Cheyennes  had  committed  more  depredations, 
burning  stage-stations  and  murdering  the  whites, 
and  he  decided  that  this  meant  war.  He  there- 


RESTLESS  RED   MEN  105 

fore  ordered  the  destruction  of  the  abandoned 
Cheyenne  village,  with  all  the  property  they  so 
suddenly  had  left  behind.  This  brought  down 
upon  him  severe  condemnation,  especially  from 
the  Indian  agents.  "The  deprivation  of  oppor 
tunities  to  speculate  in  Indian  commodities,  as 
practiced  by  most  Indian  agents,"  Custer  writes, 
"was  too  great  to  be  submitted  to  without  a 
murmur."  Some  of  the  protests,  however,  may 
have  been  honest. 

Hancock  assembled  at  Fort  Dodge  as  many 
Indian  chiefs  as  possible,  hoping  he  could  induce 
them  to  be  more  peaceful  than  the  Cheyennes. 
Satanta,  Lone  Wolf,  and  Kicking  Bear  of  the 
Kiowas,  and  Yellow  Bear  and  Little  Raven  of 
the  Arapahos  came.  They  all  promised  good 
behavior;  indeed,  so  eloquent  was  Satanta  that 
he  was  presented  with  the  uniform  (coat,  sash, 
and  hat)  of  a  major  general. 

Hancock  then  proceeded  to  Fort  Hays,  Kansas, 
where  Custer  already  had  gone.  Now  trouble 
developed  within  the  command.  Men  began  to 
desert  because  of  the  miserable  quality  of  the 
food  supplied  and  because  of  the  scarcity  of  even 
poor  rations.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Indian  agents, 
most  of  the  government  contractors  and  post- 
traders  were  merely  swindlers,  aided  and  abetted 


io6  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

by  the  "men  higher  up"  who  shared  in  the  plunder. 
Packages  of  " rations"  were  found  to  contain 
only  stones,  and  the  rancid  bacon  had  flat  stones 
sandwiched  between.  Bread  baked  in  1861  — 
six  years  before  —  was  supplied,  and  it  could 
not  be  eaten.  In  one  year  a  regiment  lost  half 
its  effective  force,  and  the  unfortunate  soldiers 
were  blamed  while  the  contractors  and  their 
rich  backers  were  reaping  a  harvest.  The  govern 
ment  thought  it  was  economizing.  These  men 
should  have  been  placed  in  the  front  ranks  and 
forced  to  eat  the  disgusting  rations,  to  march 
without  water,  and  to  be  shot  with  the  bullets 
and  rifles  they  supplied  to  the  Indians.  They 
were  the  real  enemies  of  peace  and  order. 

The  next  action  by  Custer  against  the  Indians 
was  to  make  a  sweeping  march  through  the  coun 
try  from  Fort  Hays,  near  the  Smoky  Hill  River, 
to  Fort  McPherson  on  the  Platte.  He  left  Fort 
Hays  on  June  i,  1867,  with  three  hundred  and 
fifty  men  and  twenty  wagons,  under  the  guidance 
of  an  excellent  young  scout,  Will  Comstock.  He 
was  to  make  a  semicircle  from  McPherson  south 
ward  as  far  as  the  waters  of  the  Republican  River 
and  reach  the  Platte  River  again  near  Fort  Sedg- 
wick.  Here  he  was  to  replenish  supplies,  march 
to  Fort  Wallace  near  the  Colorado  boundary, 


RESTLESS  RED  MEN  107 

and  then  follow  the  overland  route  back  to  Fort 
Hays. 

With  some  changes  that  became  necessary 
these  plans  were  carried  out. 

Owing  to  the  poor  food  and  the  excitement 
concerning  mineral  discoveries,  a  feeling  of  dis 
content  had  been  aroused  in  Custer's  command. 
Forty  men  deserted  the  night  before  leaving  the 
Platte,  and  while  still  near  that  river,  having 
stopped  apparently  for  the  night,  Custer  changed 
his  mind  and  ordered  a  further  advance.  This 
revealed  to  him  thirteen  soldiers  in  the  act  of 
leaving  camp  on  the  back  track,  some  mounted, 
others  on  foot.  The  bugle  failed  to  call  them  to 
their  duty.  The  mounted  men  escaped;  one  of 
the  men  on  foot  attempted  to  fire  on  Major  Elliott 
when  he  overtook  them.  Elliott's  squad  then 
fired,  killed  one,  wounded  two,  and  took  the 
whole  band  back  to  camp.  This  action  revealed 
a  plot  for  the  wholesale  desertion  of  one  third  of 
the  command.  Custer  could  not  tell  whom 
to  trust  among  the  privates  and  he  therefore 
put  his  officers  on  guard  duty.  At  roll  call  he 
notified  the  men  that  taps  would  be  sounded 
half  an  hour  earlier  than  usual,  and  that  after 
this  signal  the  officers  would  fire  on  any  one, 
with  a  single  hailing,  who  should  appear.  This 


io8     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

destroyed  the  plot  and  there  was  no  further 
difficulty,  although  the  conditions  naturally  com 
plicated  affairs. 

At  McPherson,  Sherman,  who  was  further  west, 
telegraphed  for  Custer  to  await  his  arrival,  and 
during  the  interval  Custer  held  an  interview  with 
several  chiefs,  one  of  whom  was  the  noted  Pawnee 
Killer,  but  without  satisfactory  result.  When 
Sherman  came,  he  directed  Custer  to  follow 
Pawnee  Killer  and  compel  him  and  his  band  to 
move  near  the  fort,  in  order  to  separate  him  from 
those  who  were  known  to  be  hostile,  but  Pawnee 
Killer  by  this  time  was  far  away,  and  it  was  no 
easy  task.  Custer  was  to  go  to  the  forks  of  the 
Republican  River,  where  Pawnee  Killer  was  sup 
posed  to  be,  and  endeavor  to  locate  him. 

The  afternoon  of  the  fourth  day  the  command 
was  at  the  place  agreed  upon,  and  Custer  arranged 
to  remain  several  days  so  as  to  carry  out  the  proj 
ect.  It  was  here  that  it  became  necessary  slightly 
to  change  the  plan  outlined  by  Sherman;  and 
more  supplies  being  required,  Custer  sent  a  wagon- 
train  under  escort  to  Fort  Wallace,  about  seventy- 
five  miles  to  the  southwest;  at  the  same  time 
sending  a  special  squadron  to  Fort  Sedgwick,  the 
same  distance  to  the  northwest,  to  send  and 
receive  dispatches.  The  region  toward  Fort  Wai- 


RESTLESS  RED  MEN  109 

lace  was  available  for  wagons  but  that  toward 
Fort  Sedgwick  was  not.  This  necessitated  two 
expeditions.  A  full  squadron  of  cavalry  was  to 
escort  the  train  to  Beaver  Creek,  whence  one  com 
pany  should  go  on  with  it,  under  Lieutenant 
Kidder,  while  the  other  reconnoitered  under 
Colonel  West. 

That  night,  after  the  two  parties  had  gone,  the 
camp  settled  down  to  await  their  return.  Dawn 
was  just  breaking  the  next  day  when  the  sharp 
report  of  a  picket's  rifle  broke  the  stillness.  Colonel 
Tom  Custer  shouted,  "They  are  here !" 

This  remark  received  an  explanatory  supple 
ment  almost  immediately  in  the  form  of  a  rattling 
fusillade  emphasized  by  numerous  war  whoops. 
Custer,  hatless  and  shoeless,  with  a  Spencer  rifle 
in  his  hand,  darted  out  of  his  tent.  The  whole 
command  was  in  the  field  ready  for  battle.  There 
was  light  enough  to  see  that  hundreds  of  the  enemy 
were  attempting  to  surround  the  camp,  while  a 
squadron  of  about  fifty,  which  had  stolen  very 
close,  were  trying  to  dash  through  and  stampede 
the  horses.  They  had  shot  the  picket  and  galloped 
over  him,  but  he  was  not  killed  and  his  comrades 
managed  to  rescue  him. 

The  fire  of  the  troops  was  so  hot  that  the  Indians 
were  compelled  to  withdraw.  After  some  maneu- 


no  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   CUSTER 

vering,  Custer  succeeded  in  arranging  for  a  con 
ference  of  himself  and  five  officers  with  six  leaders 
of  the  enemy.  They  were  to  meet  at  the  bank  of 
the  river,  here  very  small.  Custer  went  to  one 
bank  while  the  six  chiefs  came  to  the  other,  re 
moved  their  leggings,  and  waded  across.  The 
head  man  was  no  other  than  Pawnee  Killer ! 
Each  party  now  tried  to  discover  the  plans  of 
the  other,  but  with  no  success.  Then,  quite 
casually,  one  by  one,  other  warriors  began  to 
wade  over,  to  which  Custer  objected.  He  told 
the  chief  that  if  one  more  crossed  he  would  have 
his  bugler  sound  the  advance  for  his  entire  com 
mand.  Finally  they  all  started  off,  and  when 
Custer  tried  to  follow,  they  galloped  out  of  sight 
on  their  well-trained  horses. 

A  little  later  a  party  of  skirmishers  was  seen. 
Captain  Hamilton  was  sent  after  them,  and  when  he 
approached  they  retreated,  then  divided.  Hamil 
ton  also  divided,  which  was  what  they  wanted. 
The  enemy  multiplied  as  if  by  magic.  They 
circled  around  the  troops  with  consummate  skill, 
shooting  as  they  rode.  Dr.  Coates,  who  had  be 
come  detached  from  his  party,  found  himself  be 
tween  the  enemy  and  the  main  camp  five  miles 
away,  and  as  they  came  after  him,  he  rode  for  his 
life  in  the  direction  of  the  camp,  pursued  to  within 


RESTLESS  RED   MEN  in 

half  a  mile.  He  dropped  from  his  exhausted 
horse  in  the  middle  of  the  camp,  when  his  breath 
less  words  sent  more  troops  instantly  to  Hamilton's 
aid,  but  Hamilton  had  beaten  the  enemy  off  before 
they  reached  him. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
A  COURT-MARTIAL 

THE  wagon  train  returned  in  safety  with  sup 
plies,  arriving  at  the  camp  on  the  2yth  of  June. 
Custer  was  relieved  to  find  that  his  wife  had 
failed  to  receive  a  letter  from  him,  suggesting 
that  she  might  like  to  accompany  this  train  back 
to  his  camp,  for  the  development  of  sudden  hos 
tilities  on  the  part  of  Pawnee  Killer  had  changed 
the  situation  completely. 

The  wagon  train  had  been  visited  by  the  Indians 
on  the  way  back,  about  halfway  to  the  point  where 
Colonel  West  had  stopped  for  reconnoitering. 
The  train  was  quickly  arranged  in  parallel  columns 
and  cautiously  proceeded.  In  this  formation  the 
troopers  carried  on  a  continuous  battle  with  the 
Indian  cavalry  which  darted  about  with  their 
customary  skill  and  daring,  gradually  contracting 
the  circle  they  threw  about  the  moving  caravan. 
Whenever  they  approached  near,  they  would 
throw  themselves  on  the  off  side  of  their  horses 

112 


A  COURT-MARTIAL  113 

and  fire  over  or  under  the  horses'  necks.  For 
three  hours  this  fight  was  continued.  The  troopers' 
ammunition  began  to  run  low,  which  was  what 
the  enemy  was  planning  for.  Indian  sentries 
were  kept  posted  on  the  higher  points,  and  in 
obedience  to  their  signals,  the  whole  Indian  troop 
vanished  as  suddenly  as  it  had  come,  while  the 
troopers  with  the  wagon  train  wondered.  This 
mystery  was  soon  dispelled,  and  the  action  of  the 
enemy  explained,  by  the  appearance  of  a  body  of 
fresh  troops  which  had  come  out  from  Custer's 
camp. 

Major  Elliott,  who  had  carried  the  dispatches 
to  Fort  Sedgwick,  had  brought  back  messages 
from  Sherman,  directing  certain  movements,  and 
in  the  course  of  executing  them  Custer  arrived 
at  Riverside  stage-station,  whence  he  again  opened 
communications  with  Fort  Sedgwick.  He  was 
informed  now  that  a  wagon  train,  with  an  escort 
of  ten  troopers  under  Lieutenant  Kidder,  had 
departed  from  that  post  to  join  Custer  the  day 
after  Major  Elliott  had  left,  and  Kidder  had  im 
portant  dispatches  from  Sherman.  The  dispatches 
were  repeated  over  the  wire.  The  next  question 
to  be  settled  was,  where  was  Lieutenant  Kidder? 

The  Indians  had  descended  on  the  nearest  stage- 
station  to  the  west  —  the  stations  were  about 


H4  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

ten  miles  apart  —  the  night  before  and  there  had 
killed  three  men,  another  indication  that  war 
was  on  and  a  warning  to  get  to  Kidder  as  soon 
as  possible  with  a  strong  force.  Custer  decided 
to  return  at  once  to  Fort  Wallace  and  examine 
the  country  for  news  of  Kidder,  who  had  been 
ordered  to  go  to  Custer's  camp  and  then  follow 
him  if  he  had  moved.  Kidder 's  whereabouts,  con 
sequently,  was  uncertain.  It  was  assumed  that, 
missing  Custer's  trail,  he  would  make  his  way  to 
Fort  Wallace. 

When  Custer  struck  the  trail  to  Fort  Wallace, 
Comstock,  the  guide,  saw  from  the  tracks  on  it 
that  Kidder's  party  had  gone  that  way  and,  as 
yet,  had  not  been  attacked.  But  after  a  few 
miles  an  object  was  seen  lying  across  the  trail. 
It  proved  to  be  a  dead  horse,  without  trappings; 
then  another  was  found,  and  farther  down  the 
valley  of  Beaver  Creek  the  unfortunate  Kidder 
and  his  troopers  were  discovered,  murdered  and 
horribly  mangled.  Each  had  been  scalped  and 
his  skull  broken,  except  their  Sioux  guide,  Red 
Bead,  whose  scalp,  though  removed,  was  thrown 
down  by  his  side.  This,  Comstock  declared, 
proved  that  the  murderers  were  Sioux,  as  their 
customs  prohibited  carrying  away  the  scalp  of 
one  of  their  own  tribe.  All  the  clothing  had  been 


A  COURT-MARTIAL  115 

carried  off,  and  each  body  had  been  pierced  by 
from  twenty  to  fifty  arrows.  Custer  was  deeply 
moved  by  the  fate  of  the  unfortunates.  He  writes : 
"  While  the  details  of  that  fearful  struggle  will 
probably  never  be  known,  telling  how  long  and 
gallantly  this  ill-fated  little  band  contended  for 
their  lives,  yet  the  surrounding  circumstances  of 
ground,  empty  cartridge-shells,  and  distance  from 
where  the  attack  began,  satisfied  us  that  Kidder 
and  his  men  fought  as  only  brave  men  fight  when 
the  watchword  is  victory  or  death." 

Burying  the  remains  in  one  common  grave,  the 
command  arrived  next  day  at  Fort  Wallace  to 
find  that  the  Indians  had  twice,  within  a  few 
days,  made  attacks  on  that  place  with  considerable 
losses  on  both  sides.  Travel  over  the  Smoky  Hill 
route  had  been  suspended,  stages  were  taken  off, 
and  stations  abandoned.  These  frontier  " forts" 
were  nothing  more  than  collections  of  log  huts  and 
their  defensive  powers  were  slight.  To  add  to 
the  forlorn  character  of  this  wretched  military 
"post,"  cholera  had  broken  out  there  and  at  other 
places,  including  Fort  Hays  and  Fort  Harker, 
where  the  accommodations  for  the  men  who  were 
to  protect  the  vanguard  of  this  rich  government 
were  as  uncomfortable  and  unsanitary  as  they 
well  could  be.  The  Seventh  Cavalry,  in  camp  in 


n6    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

the  burning  July  sun,  outside  the  log  huts  of  Fort 
Wallace,  suffered  severely  and  many  died.  The 
doctors  ran  out  of  medical  supplies.  It  was  two 
hundred  miles  and  more  to  the  railway.  The 
common  stores  were  almost  gone.  The  mail 
failed  to  arrive;  nobody  knew  when  new  supplies 
would  come. 

In  this  emergency  Custer  determined  to  act  on 
his  own  responsibility,  take  a  hundred  of  his  best 
men,  go  through  himself  to  Fort  Marker,  and 
send  back  the  needed  food  and  medicines,  under 
this  escort.  He  placed  Captain  Hamilton  in 
command  of  this  select  detachment,  and  leaving 
the  remainder  of  the  Seventh  on  July  15,  1867,  to 
protect  Fort  Wallace,  he  rode  rapidly  to  Fort 
Hays,  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  away,  and  there 
left  Hamilton  and  the  squadron  to  rest  a  day, 
while  he  pushed  on  with  a  smaller  number  to  Fort 
Harker,  sixty  miles,  so  as  to  save  time  and  have 
the  supplies  ready  for  Hamilton's  immediate  re 
turn  to  Fort  Wallace.  He  made  the  ride  of  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  to  Fort  Hays  in  fifty-five 
hours,  and  the  sixty  miles  to  Fort  Harker  in  twelve 
hours  more,  arriving  at  the  latter  place  at  two  in 
the  morning.  Here  he  was  in  touch  with  the 
telegraph  again,  so  he  promptly  reported  first  to 
headquarters  and  then  in  person  to  General  A.  J. 


A  COURT-MARTIAL  117 

Smith,  in  command  of  this  department.  The  rail 
way  had  been  extended  as  far  as  Fort  Harker,  and 
obtaining  leave  from  General  Smith,  Custer  went 
by  train  ninety  miles  east  to  Fort  Riley.  There 
Mrs.  Custer  had  been  waiting  anxiously  for  news 
of  what  the  Indians  and  the  cholera  might  have 
done  to  her  husband,  and  good  soldier  that  she 
was,  she  went  back  with  him  to  camp. 

During  the  remainder  of  the  year  nothing  was 
done  to  punish  the  Indians,  although  extensive 
preparations  had  been  made  to  carry  on  an  active 
campaign.  "A  determined  struggle,"  writes  Cus 
ter,  "  between  the  adherents  of  the  Indian  Ring 
and  those  advocating  stringent  measures  against 
the  hostile  tribes,  resulted  in  the  temporary  as 
cendancy  of  the  former."  As  a  consequence  the 
army  was  unable  to  .proceed  with  the  plans  laid 
out.  Custer  returned  with  his  command  to  Fort 
Leavenworth  where  he  was  court-martialed  for 
leaving  Fort  Wallace  and  making  the  journey  to 
Fort  Riley  without  permission;  for  marching  his 
men  excessively;  for  allowing  two  to  be  killed  on 
the  way;  for  losing  several  government  horses; 
and  for  excessive  cruelty  and  illegal  conduct  in 
putting  down  the  mutiny  in  the  Seventh. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Custer  explained 
all  his  actions  and  showed  that  they  were  neces- 


n8  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

sary,  the  court  found  a  verdict  of  guilty  on  the 
first  charge  of  leaving  Fort  Wallace  without  per 
mission.  It  has  been  said  that,  as  the  campaign 
against  the  Indians  in  1867  was  not  a  success, 
Custer  was  selected  as  the  scapegoat ;  others  have 
said  he  was  the  victim  of  jealousy.  At  any  rate, 
he  was  found  guilty  of  the  first  charge,  and  for 
this  he  was  sentenced  to  suspension  from  rank 
and  pay  for  a  year.  Custer  himself  said,  "This 
result  seemed  satisfactory  to  those  parties  most 
intimately  concerned."  In  these  ways  govern 
ments  reward  devotion.  As  Custer  now  had  no 
quarters,  Sheridan  placed  his  own  at  Fort  Leaven- 
worth  at  his  service  indefinitely. 

After  an  agreeable  winter  at  Fort  Leavenworth, 
the  troops  in  the  spring  marched  away  again  for 
an  Indian  campaign  under  General  Sully,  while 
Custer  repaired  to  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie  and 
gave  himself  up  to  hunting,  fishing,  and  boating 
expeditions.  Time  passed  pleasantly  but  his 
thoughts  were  constantly  with  his  command. 
He  did  not  expect  to  be  permitted  to  rejoin  it 
till  his  sentence  was  served  out.  He  was  surprised 
and  gratified  consequently  when,  on  the  evening 
of  September  24,  1868,  he  received  from  Sheridan 
a  dispatch  reading :  "  Generals  Sherman,  Sully, 
and  myself,  and  nearly  all  the  officers  of  your 


A  COURT-MARTIAL  119 

regiment,  have  asked  for  you,  and  I  hope  the 
application  will  be  successful.  Can  you  come  at 
once?  Eleven  companies  of  your  regiment  will 
move  about  the  ist  of  October  against  the  hostile 
Indians,  from  Medicine  Lodge  Creek  toward  the 
Wichita  Mountains." 

Custer  knew  that  such  an  application  to  the 
authorities  in  Washington  could  not  fail  to  meet 
with  a  favorable  reply,  so  he  telegraphed  to  Sheridan 
that  he  would  start  by  the  next  train ;  leaving  the 
expected  order  to  overtake  him  on  the  way,  which 
it  did  very  speedily.  At  Fort  Leavenworth  he  had 
his  horses  and  dogs  sent  forward,  and  he  reached 
Fort  Hays  the  morning  of  September  30.  Re 
ceiving  there  personal  instructions  from  Sheridan, 
Custer  pushed  on  to  join  his  regiment  which  was 
camped  on  a  little  branch  of  the  Arkansas  about 
thirty  miles  southeast  of  Fort  Dodge. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA 

UP  to  this  time  the  troops  everywhere  on  the 
plains  had  made  rather  a  poor  showing  against  the 
Indians.  The  latter  in  quickness  of  movement,  in 
strategy,  and  in  general  maneuvering  had  plainly 
outgeneraled  the  United  States  army,  hampered 
though  the  Indians  were  by  the  constant  presence 
of  their  families.  On  the  other  hand,  a  few  soldiers 
were  expected  to  defeat  many  times  their  number  of 
Indians.  The  business  of  an  army  in  war  time  is 
to  kill,  and  the  Indian  army  had  been  doing  more 
of  that  since  the  Chivington  massacre  than  the 
white  troops.  In  their  war  raids  they  killed  or 
captured  any  whites  that  came  in  their  way,  and 
many  frontier  families  had  been  murdered  or  cap 
tured.  They  were  even  treating  the  soldiers  in 
their  very  camps  with  contempt.  The  citizens  of 
Kansas,  in  response  to  the  governor's  proclamation, 
raised  a  regiment  of  cavalry,  whose  services  the  gen 
eral  government  accepted  for  a  period  of  six  months. 

120 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA         121 

It  was  necessary  to  have  Custer,  the  brilliant 
cavalry  general,  back  again  on  the  front,  and  to 
give  him  more  or  less  of  a  free  hand,  to  aid  in  de 
stroying  or  otherwise  overcoming  this  enemy.  He 
arrived  at  the  main  camp  in  the  afternoon,  and  as 
he  was  about  sitting  down  to  dinner  he  heard  the 
familiar  shots  and  shouts  of  the  red  enemy  at  his 
very  elbow.  This  performance  Custer  learned  later 
was  of  almost  daily  occurrence ;  it  was  now  to  be 
discontinued.  The  custom  of  the  Indians  was  to 
throw  out  a  small  skirmishing  party  to  harass  the 
camp,  draw  out  a  larger  force,  lead  it  to  where  their 
large  force  was  concealed,  and  attempt  to  annihi 
late  the  detachment". 

As  soon  as  darkness  fell,  Custer  ordered  out  four 
separate  troops  of  one  hundred  men  each,  all  well 
mounted  and  well  armed  and  having  good  guides. 
Custer  knew  the  Indians  must  have  a  rendezvous 
not  far  off,  and  he  proposed  in  time  to  play  their 
own  game  on  them.  The  four  scouting  detach 
ments  were  a  preliminary  move  partly  to  rouse  the 
cavalry  after  their  inaction.  No  Indians  were  en 
countered.  Custer 's  next  move  was  to  transfer 
the  whole  command  over  to  Medicine  Lodge  Creek, 
and  before  they  were  fairly  under  way,  the  rear 
guard  was  attacked  by  a  body  of  fifty  Indian 
cavalry.  The  number  of  Indians  increased  and 


122  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

their  fire  became  so  fierce  that  a  second  troop  of 
cavalry  had  to  be  ordered  back  to  repel  them. 

After  looking  the  ground  over,  Custer  determined 
on  a  winter  campaign  when  the  grass  should  be 
dead,  when  snow  would  be  on,  and  when  the  In 
dian  would  not  be  so  nimble  on  his  horse.  He 
therefore  took  the  command  back  to  the  Arkansas 
near  Fort  Dodge,  to  train  the  men  in  marksman 
ship  and  otherwise  to  perfect  them.  A  record  of 
all  shots  was  kept  for  a  month  and,  out  of  the  best, 
forty  were  selected  who  would  travel  by  them 
selves  and  not  be  subject  to  guard  or  picket  duty. 
At  the  same  time  about  a  dozen  Indians  of  the 
friendly  Osage  tribe  were  engaged  as  scouts. 

On  the  1 2th  of  November,  1868,  the  entire  force 
which  was  to  operate  in  the  campaign  marched 
for  several  days,  under  Colonel  Cook,  to  a  point 
where  the  junction  of  Beaver  and  Wolf  creeks 
(Middle  River)  forms  the  North  Fork  of  the  Cana 
dian  River  in  Indian  Territory,  now  Oklahoma, 
and  there  a  permanent  camp  was  established  called 
Camp  Supply ;  afterwards  named  Fort  Supply. 

Near  this  place  the  trail  of  a  large  war  party, 
about  twenty-four  hours  old,  moving  northeasterly, 
was  found.  Here  General  Sheridan  came  in  order 
to  determine  what  was  best  to  be  done,  or  rather 
to  have  a  last  conference  with  Custer  on  the  subject? 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA         123 

with  the  result  that  Custer  was  ordered  to  find  the 
hostiles  and  punish  them  as  far  as  his  command 
was  able.  He  was  to  move  out  on  this  expedition 
on  the  morning  of  November  23,  1868. 

The  evening  of  the  22d  a  snowstorm  set  in.  At 
four  in  the  morning,  when  the  bugle  call  sounded, 
the  snow  was  a  foot  deep  and  still  falling.  Sheri 
dan  was  a  little  perturbed  but  Custer  declared  that 
the  start  was  most  propitious,  and  the  column  rode 
away  with  the  band  playing  "The  Girl  I  Left  Be 
hind  Me." 

It  was  necessary  for  Custer  to  direct  the  course 
by  compass  in  the  direction  he  believed  to  be  cor 
rect  from  his  map.  About  two  in  the  afternoon 
they  reached  Wolf  Creek,  on  the  way  south  to  the 
Antelope  Hills  and  the  Canadian  River.  On  or 
near  the  latter  stream  Custer  expected  to  find  evi 
dences  of  Indians  and  these  would  control  his 
future  movements.  On  the  fifth  day  the  Canadian 
River  was  reached  near  the  five  Antelope  Hills, 
and  there  Major  Elliott  was  sent  out  with  three 
full  troops  to  scout  up  the  north  bank  of  the  Cana 
dian,  while  Custer,  despite  floating  ice,  quicksand, 
and  a  stiff  current,  put  the  command  on  the  south 
side.  Elliott  was  to  rejoin  him  further  south  on 
the  Washita,  and  all  would  continue  in  a  southerly 
direction  till  Indians  were  found. 


124  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   CUSTER 

Custer  halted  on  the  Antelope  Hills  for  all  the 
command  which  had  crossed  with  him  to  get  to 
gether,  and  was  on  the  point  of  ordering  an  advance, 
when  far  in  the  distance,  on  the  vast  whiteness, 
a  horseman  was  observed  approaching  from  the 
direction  in  which  Elliott  had  gone.  It  proved 
to  be  Elliott's  scout,  Corbin,  who  reported  that 
they  had  found  a  fresh  trail  of  a  war  party  of  at 
least  a  hundred  and  fifty,  and  Elliott  was  following 
it  down  the  Washita.  With  orders  for  Elliott  to  go 
on  till  eight  o'clock  that  night,  Corbin  returned  to 
him.  Custer  immediately  decided  to  leave  his  sup 
ply  train  under  a  guard  of  eighty  men,  with  orders 
to  follow,  while  with  the  remainder  of  the  men, 
each  carrying  one  hundred  rounds  of  ammunition, 
a  small  amount  of  coffee  and  hard-tack,  with  a 
little  forage  for  his  horse,  he  would  catch  up  to 
Elliott.  Tents  and  extra  blankets  were  to  be  left 
with  the  wagons.  Custer  intended  to  move  In 
dian-fashion,  unencumbered  by  camp  utensils  and 
other  unnecessary  things. 

Captain  Hamilton's  duty  that  day  would  be  with 
the  wagons,  but  he  so  strongly  wished  to  go  with 
his  troop  that  when  another  officer  offered  to  stay 
in  his  place  he  gladly  accepted.  The  other  officer 
was  afflicted  with  snowblindness,  which  was  both 
painful  and  troublesome,  and  the  wagon  train  was 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA         125 

the  best  place  for  him.  Reaching  Elliott's  trail, 
Custer  pushed  along  it  rapidly,  but  it  was  nine 
o'clock  at  night  before  camp  was  pitched  beside 
him.  Small  fires  were  built  under  the  banks  of 
the  creek  to  prevent  their  being  seen  by  their  foes, 
and  the  men  ate  their  hard-tack  with  hot  coffee. 
The  horses  were  fed  with  oats  and  then,  as  western 
horses  learn  to  do,  they  pawed  for  grass  through 
the  snow. 

After  an  hour's  rest  the  moon  came  up.  Without 
a  sound  the  command  was  ordered  to  mount.  The 
Osage  scouts  were  sure  that  the  Indians  sought 
were  not  far  off.  Little  Beaver  wanted  to  wait  till 
day,  but  not  being  able  to  give  any  reason,  Custer 
ignored  his  desire.  The  command  went  silently 
on.  The  only  sound  was  the  crunching  of  the  snow- 
crust.  Presently  the  Osage  who  was  leading 
suddenly  halted.  Why?  "Me  don't  know- 
me  smell  fire !"  Nobody  else  smelled  fire  and  the 
soldiers  said  he  was  mistaken.  In  about  half  a 
mile  he  exclaimed,  "Me  told  you  so!" 

There,  a  few  yards  off,  was  the  fire,  a  handful  of 
dying  embers  in  the  edge  of  the  timber.  There  was 
a  halt  till  the  fire  could  be  investigated.  No  one 
was  near  it.  The  Osages  thought  the  village  was 
about  two  miles  further  on  and  Custer  led  the  way 
with  the  two  chiefs.  At  the  crest  of  each  hill  the 


126    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Indians  would  steal  ahead  and  peer  over  very  cau 
tiously.  At  one  place  one  of  them  exclaimed  in  a 
whisper,  "Heap  Injun  down  there!" 

Custer  looked  over  with  equal  caution  and  in 
the  moonlight  saw  a  large  herd  of  what  seemed  to 
be  buffalo.  They  were  Indian  horses.  "Me  hear 
dog  bark"  whispered  the  Osage.  Custer  heard  a 
bark,  too,  then  the  tinkling  of  a  bell,  such  as  is  hung 
on  a  horse's  neck.  A  moment  later  on  the  clear, 
frosty  air  came  the  cry  of  a  baby.  Would  the 
white  man  have  mercy  on  that  little  baby?  But 
it  was  only  an  Indian  baby,  after  all ! 

It  was  past  midnight.  A  new  day,  November  27, 
1868,  was  beginning  —  a  fatal  day  for  many.  The 
officers  were  assembled  and  Custer  gave  them  his 
plan  and  his  orders.  The  village  was  to  be  sur 
rounded  and  at  daylight  the  attack  was  to  begin 
from  all  sides.  The  eight  hundred  men  were  sepa 
rated  into  four  detachments,  and  while  two  started 
on  a  detour  to  reach  the  farthest  points,  the  third 
moved  to  position  about  an  hour  before  day.  Cus 
ter,  with  the  fourth,  was  to  attack  from  the  point 
of  first  discovery  of  the  village. 

The  village  was  that  of  Black  Kettle  and  his 
Cheyennes  who  were  now  to  have  another  taste 
of  the  white  man's  justice.  Custer  hoped  to  pre 
vent  the  escape  of  every  one  and  teach  them  to  be 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA         127 

peaceful,  yet  he  did  not  intend  to  sacrifice  any  more 
lives  than  he  had  to.  The  waiting  men  tried  to 
snatch  a  little  sleep,  but  the  night  was  very  cold 
and  they  had  only  their  overcoats  for  protection. 

No  shot  was  to  be  fired  till  a  given  signal.  The 
east  began  to  brighten.  The  regimental  band  was 
at  Ouster's  elbow,  all  mounted  with  instruments 
ready,  the  leader  with  his  cornet  to  his  lips.  As 
Custer  neared  the  village,  all  was  so  still  he  feared 
the  place  was  deserted.  Then  a  rifle  shot  rang  out 
on  the  wintry  air  from  the  far  side  of  the  village. 
Custer  gave  the  signal;  the  band  struck  up  " Gar 
ry  o wen"  while  cheers  came  from  troops  all  around 
as  they  closed  in  on  the  fated  tribe.  Bugles 
sounded ;  rifles  cracked. 

Black  Kettle  and  his  people  were  taken  com 
pletely  by  surprise,  and  with  their  horses  half- 
starved  and  not  at  hand  they  were  at  an  immense 
disadvantage.  However,  they  were  quickly  be 
hind  trees,  firing  on  the  troops,  while  some  even 
jumped  into  the  Washita  River  and  used  the 
banks  for  breastworks. 

They  all  fought  "with  a  desperation  and  courage 
which  no  race  of  men  could  surpass,"  Custer  reports. 
The  battle  was  rapid  and  furious,  and  the  troops 
even  under  favorable  circumstances  did  not  have 
it  all  their  own  way.  The  gallant  Captain  Hamil- 


128    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

ton  was  one  of  the  first  to  fall.  The  order  to  kill 
only  warriors  could  not  always  be  observed,  for  some 
of  the  women  were  fighting  as  bravely  as  the  men. 
So  too  were  young  boys,  one  of  whom,  on  a  strong 
horse,  disregarded  Major  Benteen's  command  to 
surrender  and  rode  at  him  so  fiercely,  shooting  a 
revolver,  that  Ben  teen  had  to  kill  him  in  self-de 
fense.  He  was  the  son  of  a  chief. 

A  squaw,  dragging  after  her  a  little  white  boy- 
captive,  finding  herself  cornered,  stabbed  the  child 
to  the  heart  and  one  of  the  troopers  shot  her  dead. 
Many  warriors  were  killed  by  the  sharpshooters; 
the  remainder  were  driven  into  the  open.  The 
women  and  children  remaining  in  the  lodges  were 
being  rounded  up  and  put  under  guard  when  Cus- 
ter  noticed  a  large  force  of  Indian  cavalry  on  a  hill 
about  a  mile  away.  Who  were  they?  Sending  for 
the  interpreter,  Custer  learned  from  one  of  the 
Cheyenne  women  that  just  below,  on  the  same 
stream,  were  located  all  the  villages  of  Southern 
Cheyennes,  the  Arapahos,  a  small  band  of  Kiowas, 
and  the  Comanches.  It  was  apparent  that  the 
troops  had  run  into  a  real  hornet's  nest,  and  to 
verify  it,  Colonel  Barnitz  was  brought  in  with  a 
rifle  ball  next  to  his  heart  (he  recovered  finally), 
while  of  Major  Elliott  nothing  could  be  learned. 

A  hospital  was  improvised,  the  dead  and  wounded 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA         129 

of  the  troops  collected,  and  the  ponies  which  had 
been  captured  were  rounded  up.  All  were  heavily 
guarded.  The  situation  was  now  perilous  for  the 
troops.  Major  Bell  had  scarcely  arrived  with  fresh 
ammunition  when  the  enemy  began  to  attack  more 
vigorously  but  cautiously,  so  as  to  avoid  killing 
their  own  women  and  children.  Custer  ordered 
all  the  teepees  pulled  down  and  all  the  Indian  prop 
erty  gathered  together  and  burned  with  the  teepees. 
While  this  was  being  done,  the  Indians  advanced 
from  many  directions.  They  attacked  the  soldiers 
with  skill  and  vigor.  It  was  charge  and  counter 
charge,  the  enemy  always  returning  to  the  troops, 
like  an  elastic  band.  By  three  in  the  afternoon 
Custer  began  to  feel  anxious  concerning  his  supply 
train,  guarded  by  only  eighty  men.  If  the  enemy 
sighted  it  they  would  capture  it,  and  then  the 
troops  would  be  in  a  difficult  situation,  their  lim 
ited  rations  being  now  gone  and  ammunition  scarce. 
The  soldiers  had  taken  more  than  fifty  prisoners 
and  still  held  the  huge  herd  of  eight  hundred  and 
seventy-five  horses  captured  in  the  beginning. 
The  latter  could  not  be  taken  on  the  retreat  toward 
the  wagon  train,  so  Custer  ordered  all  of  them  shot 
except  such  as  the  captives  should  select  to  ride, 
and  seven  hundred  were  killed,  a  work  that  required 
the  services  of  three  companies  for  an  hour  and  a 


130     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

half.  A  middle-aged  woman  asked  to  speak  to 
him,  and  the  request  being  granted  she  delivered 
an  address,  translated  by  the  interpreter,  "which 
for  wisdom  of  sentiment  and  easy,  natural,  but 
impassioned  delivery,  might  have  been  heard  with 
intense  interest  by  an  audience  of  cultivated  re 
finement,"  says  Custer.  Her  name  was  Mahwissa. 
She  spoke  as  a  sister  of  Black  Kettle,  the  head  chief, 
whose  troubles  were  now  ended  as  he  had  been  killed 
early  in  this  attack  of  the  enemy  whom  he  consid 
ered,  with  some  reason,  dishonorable  and  perfidious. 
She  declared  frankly  that  the  Indians  had  brought 
this  trouble  on  themselves  as  the  last  war  party 
against  the  whites  had  returned  only  the  night 
before.  It  was,  in  fact,  their  carousing  till  a  late 
hour  which  had  caused  the  camp  to  sleep  so 
soundly  that  they  were  taken  by  surprise.  "  But," 
she  said,  "if  you  are  a  big  chief,  show  that  you 
can  act  like  a  chief  and  secure  for  us  that  treat 
ment  which  the  helpless  are  entitled  to." 

Mahwissa  then  placed  the  hand  of  a  young 
maiden  in  that  of  Custer  and  appeared  to  pronounce 
a  benediction.  Custer  asked  an  interpreter  to 
explain.  "Why,  she's  marryin'  you  to  the  squaw ! " 
he  replied  with  a  grin.  Custer  explained  to  Mah 
wissa  the  impossibility  of  his  accepting  this  honor, 
and  turned  his  attention  to  other  matters,  among 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  WASHITA         131 

them  the  search  for  Major  Elliott  and  the  nineteen 
men  with  him  when  he  was  last  seen  charging  into 
the  village.  Nothing  could  be  learned  at  that  time 
but  George  Bent  told  the  story  later.  Elliott  had 
charged  through  the  village  and  was  finally  cut  off 
by  a  squadron  of  warriors  just  arrived  from  the 
lower  villages.  Elliott  dismounted  his  men  and 
tried,  from  reclining  positions  in  a  ravine,  to  beat 
off  his  assailants.  But  his  situation  was  so  bad 
that  he  could  not  effectively  defend  himself,  and 
besides  his  men  must  have  run  out  of  ammunition 
for  they  did  not  shoot  much.  Inside  of  two  hours 
they  all  were  killed,1  and  the  warriors  who  had 
been  fighting  Elliott  went  on  to  attack  Custer. 
He,  not  being  able  to  discover  Elliott's  fate,  al 
though  parties  were  sent  two  miles  in  the  direction 
in  which  he  was  seen  to  go,  began  a  retrograde 
movement.  He  had  accomplished  the  entire  de 
struction  of  this  village  and  he  could  do  no  more  at 
that  time. 

As  evening  fell  he  marched  (for  the  benefit  of  the 
enemy  scouts)  in  the  direction  of  the  villages  lower 
down  the  river,  to  a  point  several  miles  below 

1  A  story  of  how  Elliott  had  defended  himself  for  nearly  two 
days,  which  appears  in  "Reminiscences  of  Fort  Dodge,"  by  Robert 
M.  Wright,  Kansas  Historical  Society  Collections,  is  seen  to  be 
untrue. 


132  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

the  scene  of  the  battle,  with  the  apparent  intention 
of  attacking  them,  but  as  soon  as  darkness  came  on 
he  immediately  reversed  his  line  of  march,  as 
planned,  and  as  rapidly  as  possible  made  his  way 
back  toward  the  approaching  wagon  train.  At 
ten  in  the  morning,  having  made  but  one  halt,  they 
reached  the  train.  This  was  then  turned  about 
and,  without  a  stop,  the  entire  caravan  went  back 
to  a  point  from  which  the  scout,  California  Joe, 
was  sent  with  dispatches  for  Sheridan  at  Camp 
Supply,  while  the  command  rested. 

The  results  of  this  Battle  of  the  Washita  were 
as  follows:  103  warriors  killed,  —  women  killed, 
53  women  and  children  captured,  875  horses  killed, 
1123  buffalo  robes  and  skins  taken,  as  well  as  535 
pounds  of  powder,  1050  pounds  of  lead,  4000  arrows, 
700  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  numerous  rifles,  pistols, 
saddles,  bows,  and  lassos.  Quantities  of  dried  meat 
and  other  provisions  were  destroyed.  The  loss  to 
the  troops  was  as  follows :  Major  Elliott  and  Cap 
tain  Hamilton  killed  ;  nineteen  soldiers  killed ; 
Colonel  Barnitz  wounded,  also  Lieutenant  Colonel 
T.  W.  Custer,  Second  Lieutenant  March,  and  eleven 
soldiers. 


CHAPTER  XV 

9 

FORCEFUL  MEASURES 

WHEN  California  Joe  returned  from  Camp 
Supply,  he  brought  back  from  General  Sheridan 
thanks  and  congratulations  to  the  officers  and  the 
troops,  and  special  congratulations  to  their  dis 
tinguished  commander,  Brevet  Major  General 
George  A.  Custer,  for  "the  efficient  and  gallant 
services  rendered  which  have  characterized  the 
opening  of  the  campaign  against  hostile  Indians 
south  of  the  Arkansas.  The  energy  and  rapidity 
shown  during  one  of  the  heaviest  snowstorms  that 
has  visited  this  section  of  the  country,  with  the 
temperature  below  freezing  point,  and  the  gallantry 
and  bravery  displayed,  resulting  in  such  signal  suc 
cess,  reflect  the  highest  credit  upon  both  the  officers 
and  men  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry." 

Custer  decided  to  enter  Camp  Supply  in  triumph 
and  pass  in  review  before  Sheridan,  who  was  accord 
ingly  notified.  The  snow  had  disappeared  by  De 
cember  2,  the  day  they  reached  a  point  two  miles 

133 


134  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

from  the  camp,  where  one  of  Sheridan's  staff  met 
Custer  with  the  information  that  the  commanding 
general  would  be  pleased  to  review  the  Seventh 
Cavalry.  The  cavalcade  marched  down  a  gradual 
slope,  then  rode  into  the  camp  and  past  Sheridan 
and  his  staff,  all  mounted,  in  the  following  order: 
First  Custer,  wearing  a  fringed  buckskin  hunting- 
shirt  and  leggings,  a  broad  hat  surmounting  his 
yellow  curls  which  fell  to  his  shoulders,  and  carry 
ing  a  long  rifle ;  then  the  Osages  dressed  in  the  full 
war  paraphernalia  of  their  tribe,  chanting  war 
songs,  firing  guns,  and  occasionally  giving  the  war 
whoop;  then  the  scouts  riding  abreast,  followed 
by  Indian  prisoners.  A  little  in  the  rear  of  this 
group  rode  the  troops  with  the  band  playing  the 
Seventh's  great  charging  air,  "Garryowen,"  the 
platoon  of  sharpshooters  coming  between  the  band 
and  the  main  body.  Afterwards  Sheridan  declared 
it  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  interesting 
scenes  he  remembered  ever  to  have  seen,  and  it 
certainly  was  a  picture  that  never  again  will  be 
possible  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States. 

Leaving  Camp  Supply  again,  this  time  with 
Sheridan's  company,  Custer  and  the  Seventh  Cav 
alry,  on  the  morning  of  December  7,  1868,  with 
the  Kansas  troops,  ten  companies  of  the  Nine 
teenth  volunteer  cavalry,  marched  southward  to 


FORCEFUL  MEASURES  135 

the  Washita  on  the  way  to  Fort  Cobb,  reaching 
the  Washita  near  the  late  battle-ground.  The 
Canadian  River  was  forded  in  a  temperature  of 
18°  F.  below  zero.  With  a  hundred  men  Custer 
and  Sheridan  together  rode  over  the  place,  dividing 
the  troops  into  small  parties  to  search  for  the  re 
mains  of  Elliott  and  his  men.  In  about  two  miles 
the  bodies  were  found  at  a  distance  from  their  dead 
horses,  showing  that  they  had  fought  dismounted, 
as  Bent  said,  and  as  the  prisoners  said  also.  A 
grave  was  made  on  a  knoll  near  the  main  camp 
and  all  but  Elliott  were  buried  there.  His  body 
was  taken  for  interment  to  Fort  Arbuckle ;  and  the 
bodies  of  Mrs.  Blinn  and  her  little  boy,  captives 
killed  to  prevent  rescue,  were  also  carried  back. 
The  weather  was  exceedingly  cold  throughout  this 
march. 

The  village  destroyed  was  now  seen  to  be  the  first 
of  many  extending  almost  continuously  down  the 
river  for  twelve  miles,  in  all  at  least  six  hundred 
lodges.  Their  occupants  had  disappeared.  Cus 
ter  with  the  Seventh  Cavalry  started  after  them, 
and  on  the  morning  of  December  17  they  met  some 
Indians  with  a  white  flag.  At  the  same  time  they 
met  a  scout  from  Fort  Cobb  with  a  dispatch  from 
General  Hazen  stating  that  all  Indians  beyond 
that  point  were  friendly.  The  scout  also  said  that 


136  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   CUSTER 

a  large  party  under  Satanta  and  Lone  Wolf  were 
about  a  mile  ahead  with  a  captive  scout,  his  com 
panion,  who  was  held  as  a  prisoner.  Going  out  to 
meet  the  flag,  Custer  found  Lone  Wolf,  Satanta, 
and  a  number  of  other  leaders  all  painted  and 
plumed  for  war,  each  armed  with  a  rifle,  two  re 
volvers,  and  bows  and  arrows,  but  they  refrained 
from  hostilities.1 

Custer  compelled  the  release  of  the  captive  scout 
and  then  proceeded  towards  Fort  Cobb  accom 
panied  by  the  chiefs,  who  said  they  were  going 
there  also.  Although  very  suspicious  of  them, 
Custer  could  not  divine  their  purpose.  They  de 
clared  their  hearts  had  become  good,  their  tongues 
had  become  straight  [truthful],  and  no  more  would 
they  be  wicked.  Originally  there  were  about 
twenty  of  the  chiefs,  but  as  the  march  proceeded 
the  number  dwindled,  under  one  pretext  or  another, 
till  only  Satanta  and  Lone  Wolf  remained.  Cus 
ter  then  seized  these  as  prisoners  of  war.  On  ar 
riving  with  them  at  Fort  Cobb,  December  18,  1868, 
they  were  informed  that  unless  their  people  came  to 
the  agency  near  the  fort  and  remained  peaceably 
there,  the  war  begun  on  the  Washita  would  be  con- 

1  It  was  claimed  that  Satanta  and  Lone  Wolf  were  engaged 
in  the  Battle  of  the  Washita,  but  conclusive  proof  was  later  pro 
duced  to  show  that  on  that  night  they  slept  at  Fort  Cobb. 


FORCEFUL  MEASURES  137 

tinued  even  more  vigorously.  Through  Satanta's 
son,  negotiations  were  conducted  with  the  people 
but  every  promise  they  made  to  come  was  condi 
tioned  on  the  prior  release  of  the  prisoners.  Fi 
nally  Sheridan,  who  had  accompanied  Custer  thus 
far,  said  to  him,  "You  can  inform  Lone  Wolf  and 
Satanta  that  we  will  wait  till  sundown  to-morrow 
for  their  tribe  to  come  in ;  if  by  that  time  the  vil 
lage  is  not  here,  Lone  Wolf  and  Satanta  will  be 
hung  and  the  troops  sent  in  pursuit  of  the  village." 

Custer  himself  went  to  Satanta  and  Lone  Wolf 
with  this  message,  and  when  he  told  them  the 
final  decree,  neither  one  gave  the  slightest  evidence 
that  anything  unusual  had  been  proposed.  But 
Satanta  gave  his  son  an  earnest  message  and  the 
next  afternoon  the  whole  tribe  arrived. 

Early  in  1869  another  attempt  was  made  to  get 
the  Cheyennes  and  Arapahoes,  who  had  run  from 
the  battle-ground  of  the  Washita,  to  come  in.  They 
were  somewhere  on  Red  River,  and  an  Apache 
chief  called  Iron  Shirt  offered  to  go  to  their  camp. 
Mahwissa  agreed  to  go,  too,  and  see  what  she  could 
do  with  her  people.  In  three  weeks  Iron  Shirt 
returned  but  Mahwissa  was  not  allowed  to  come 
back.  The  chiefs  said  their  horses  were  out  of  con 
dition,  but  Little  Robe  and  Yellow  Bear  finally 
came  with  a  re  port  that  many  were  in  favor  of  com- 


138     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

ing.  Custer  then  proposed  to  Sheridan  that  with 
forty  men,  two  officers,  and  a  doctor,  and  with 
Yellow  Bear,  the  Arapaho,  and  Little  Robe,  the 
Cheyenne,  he  would  strike  for  the  hostile  camps 
to  see  what  he  could  do.  Sheridan  declined  to 
give  an  order  for  such  an  undertaking  but  did  not 
oppose  it.  Custer  then  chose  his  company  from  the 
sharpshooters,  took  his  brother  Colonel  Tom,  Cap 
tain  Robbins,  Doctor  Renick,  and  a  Blackfoot 
named  Neva  who  had  been  with  Fremont,  and  who 
claimed  to  be  a  son-in-law  of  Kit  Carson.  They 
took  an  interpreter;  also  a  young  man  named 
Brewster,  who  was  in  search  of  his  sister  who  had 
been  captured  some  time  before.  He  was  allowed 
to  go  as  he  believed  his  sister  was  with  these  Indians. 
Only  pack  mules  would  be  taken  to  carry  supplies 
and  baggage. 

This  venture  of  Custer's  was  considered  fool 
hardy  and  it  would  have  been  for  most  men,  for  few 
had  his  good  judgment  and  quick  decision.  Reach 
ing  the  vicinity  of  the  last  peak  of  the  Wichita 
Mountains  without  seeing  Indians,  Little  Robe 
and  Yellow  Bear  gathered  a  quantity  of  dry  grass 
and  weeds  and  on  a  prominent  point,  a  thousand 
feet  above  the  plain,  made  a  fire.  As  soon  as  it 
began  to  burn,  it  was  partly  smothered  by  pulling 
the  leaves  over  it ;  this  caused  a  column  of  smoke  to 


FORCEFUL  MEASURES  139 

rise ;  then  they  placed  over  it  a  blanket  held  close 
to  the  ground  by  the  four  corners.  When  this  was 
suddenly  removed,  the  column  of  smoke  which 
had  been  confined  burst  out  like  a  balloon  and  rose 
into  the  air.  By  repeating  this  operation,  they 
made  a  series  of  telegraphic  puffs  which  could  be 
seen  for  many  miles.  They  peered  into  the  far  dis 
tance  for  a  reply  but  none  came.  It  became  evi 
dent,  two  days  later,  that  the  chase  would  be 
longer  than  anticipated,  and  a  message  to  Sheridan 
asking  for  more"  rations  was  imperative.  A  young 
trooper  volunteered  to  return  alone.  He  started 
after  dark,  while  in  the  early  morning  Custer  and 
his  command  proceeded  as  indicated  by  the  chiefs. 
The  next  day  about  noon  two  Indians  were  dis 
covered  who,  in  reply  to  Yellow  Bear's  signals,  came 
up  to  the  party.  One  was  sent  away  to  the  village 
not  far  off,  and  before  long  Ouster's  little  force  was 
surrounded,  ten  to  one,  by  fully  armed  warriors. 
He  proceeded  with  them  to  their  camp  on  Mulberry 
Creek  and  pitched  his  own  camp  alongside,  but  on 
the  other  bank  of  the  stream.  All  had  been  very 
friendly,  and  after  a  council  in  the  evening,  at  which 
Custer  explained  his  errand,  they  expressed  a  will 
ingness  to  go  to  the  reservation  assigned  to  them. 
Little  Raven,  the  head  chief  of  the  Arapahoes,  was 
a  progressive  leader  and  had  always  desired  to 


140    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

follow  out  the  treaty  of  1867,  but  had  not  been 
able  to  persuade  his  people  to  do  so.  All  was 
satisfactorily  arranged  with  him  and  he  promised 
to  start  in  three  days. 

Then  Custer  wanted  to  find  the  Cheyennes  and 
Little  Raven  gave  him  two  of  his  young  men  as 
guides.  Little  Raven  and  his  people  accordingly 
started  back  with  Yellow  Bear,  the  latter  bearing 
a  message  for  Sheridan,  while  Custer  waited  for 
the  arrival  of  the  extra  supplies  he  had  sent  for, 
Little  Robe,  the  Cheyenne  chief,  remaining  with 
him,  to  go  on  to  his  people.  Brewster  also  de 
sired  to  go  on,  for  Little  Raven,  not  knowing  his 
mission,  had  admitted  that  there  were  two  white 
women  captives  with  the  Cheyennes. 

Three  days  later  Colonel  Cook  came  with  the 
supplies  and  Custer  went  on,  while  Neva,  the  two 
Arapahoes,  and  young  Brewster  (by  his  own  re 
quest)  pushed  ahead.  Custer 's  horses  were  now 
nearly  starving,  although  cottonwood  trees  were 
felled  so  that  they  could  eat  the  twigs  and  young 
branches,  a  resource  often  utilized  in  the  West. 
One  of  the  horses  died  and  the  troops  concluded 
to  eat  him.  Neva  and  Brewster  at  length  returned 
to  report  that  the  two  Arapahoes  had  decided  to 
follow  on  a  two- weeks-old  trail  they  had  found. 
Custer,  owing  to  lack  of  forage  for  the  horses  and 


FORCEFUL  MEASURES  141 

supplies  for  the  men,  was  forced  to  go  back  to  the 
main  camp  where  he  was  heartily  welcomed  by 
Sheridan  and  his  staff  who  had  all  been  exceedingly 
doubtful  as  to  his  safe  return. 

Sheridan  left  for  Camp  Supply  while  Custer,  with 
the  Seventh  Cavalry  and  the  Kansas  volunteer 
cavalry,  in  all  about  1500  or  1800  men,  with  his 
Osage  scouts,  went  back  to  the  country  he  had  just 
left  to  catch,  if  possible,  the  roaming  Cheyennes. 
Monaseeta,  Little  Rock's  daughter,  was  taken  along 
to  act  as  intermediary  if  practicable. 

After  considerable  travel  and  search,  Custer 
finally  overtook  them,  the  first  ones  being  a  group 
on  a  hill.  Up  to  this  time  he,  had  advanced  with 
such  extreme  caution  that  the  Cheyennes  did  not 
know  of  his  presence,  and  had  felt  perfectly 
secure  beyond  what  they  thought  an  impassable 
desert  for  the  troops.  It  was  very  necessary,  as 
the  Cheyennes  had  the  two  white  women  with 
them  and  might  kill  them,  to  be  exceedingly 
diplomatic  in  all  that  was  now  to  be  done. 
A  parley  was  arranged  with  the  advance  guard 
which  had  been  met,  and  Medicine  Arrow,  the 
chief,  said  it  would  be  desirable  for  Custer  himself 
to  proceed  with  him  to  their  main  camp  to  avoid 
excitement  which  the  appearance  of  the  entire  force 
would  create. 


142     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

To  this  Custer  agreed,  and  taking  only  Colonel 
Cook,  he  rode  rapidly  to  the  village  with  the  body 
of  chiefs,  feeling  that  with  all  their  women  and 
children  at  hand,  and  his  large  force  in  the  back 
ground,  there  was  no  great  danger  of  treachery. 
The  village  was  a  very  large  one,  the  largest  Custer 
had  ever  seen.  They  went  to  Medicine  Arrow's 
lodge  and  he  sent  the  town  crier  to  call  a  council. 
Fifteen  came.  They  sat  in  a  circle  with  Custer  at 
Medicine  Arrow's  right  and  the  chief  priest,  or 
" medicine  man"  as  the  whites  call  him,  on  Custer's 
right.  Grasping  Custer's  right  hand  with  his  left, 
the  priest,  who  had  previously  filled  the  council 
pipe,  pressed  the  visitor's  hand  to  his  heart  with  a 
prayer  or  incantation.  Then  he  made  a  similar 
incantation  over  the  pipe,  pointing  the  stem  to 
each  of  the  cardinal  compass  points,  finally  putting 
the  mouthpiece  in  Custer's  mouth.  After  more 
incantation  and  a  second  grip  on  Custer's  right 
hand,  the  hand  was  released,  a  match  lighted,  and 
a  sign  made  for  Custer  to  begin  to  smoke,  which  he, 
of  course,  did,  although  he  was  not  a  smoker  and  was 
somewhat  uncertain  as  to  the  effect.  But  his  smok 
ing  was  brief  for  the  pipe  was  passed  on.  Then,  at 
last,  Custer  was  allowed  to  explain  his  presence.  He 
said  nothing  at  the  time  about  the  captives,  but 
Monaseeta  reported  that  both  were  in  the  village. 


FORCEFUL  MEASURES  143 

The  whole  command  presently  came  up,  and 
Medicine  Arrow  assigned  a  camp  site  for  the  troops 
about  three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  his  own  and 
hidden  from  it.  The  Kansas  troops  were  angry 
at  being  restrained  from  an  immediate  attack,  but 
Custer  ruled  them.  After  a  time  the  chief  came 
to  Custer's  tent  to  say  that  some  of  his  young  men 
wished  to  serenade  him,  and  soon  they  arrived ; 
about  a  dozen,  beautifully  mounted  and  gorgeously 
dressed,  with  reed  pipes  resembling  fifes.  They 
rode  about  making  what  they  thought  were  musical 
sounds.  Custer  discovered  that  this  was  merely 
a  ruse  to  permit  the  village  to  pack  up  and  get 
away  and  he  instantly  made  up  his  mind  what 
course  to  pursue.  The  officers  were  told  to  leave, 
one  by  one,  and  order  some  of  their  best  men  to 
come  thoroughly  armed  and  mingle  with  the 
crowd  as  if  listening  to  the  performers.  About 
one  hundred  were  disposed  in  this  fashion  while 
the  Indians  gradually  diminished  in  number  to 
about  forty,  among  whom  were  the  half  dozen 
chiefs.  Indicating  to  the  men  nearest  him  the 
chiefs  he  intended  to  capture,  he  told  the  in 
terpreter  to  command  silence,  as  he  wished  to 
speak.  Rising,  Custer  unbuckled  his  revolver 
and  threw  it  on  the  ground  saying  that  in  what  he 
was  about  to  do  he  did  not  wish  to  shed  any  blood 


144          GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

unless  forced  to  do  so.  Then  he  told  the  chiefs  to 
look  around  and  count  the  armed  men  among  them, 
asking  them  quietly  to  submit.  If  their  people 
responded  properly  to  the  reasonable  demands,  all 
would  be  well. 

For  a  moment  or  two  it  looked  like  a  hand-to- 
hand  fight.  The  soldiers  behaved  with  great  dis 
cretion.  The  young  Indians  made  a  rush  and  broke 
away,  which  was  what  Custer  wanted,  telling  his 
men  not  to  fire.  Then  the  chiefs  were  cornered. 
Custer  told  them  he  knew  their  plans ;  that  he  knew 
they  had  two  white  women  in  the  camp  whom  he 
intended  to  release,  and  that  he  wanted  them  all 
to  return  to  the  reservation.  After  some  trouble, 
the  chiefs  Big  Head,  Fat  Bear,  and  Dull  Knife  were 
securely  held. 

Custer  then  told  one  of  the  Cheyennes  who  had 
been  chosen  as  a  messenger  by  the  chiefs,  to  tell 
the  tribe  that  he  demanded  the  unconditional  sur 
render  of  the  captives  and  the  return  of  the  entire 
tribe  to  the  reservation.  He  also  requested  Little 
Robe  to  come  for  a  conference,  and  added  that  if 
his  demands  were  not  complied  with  he  would  begin 
a  war  at  once. 

There  was  considerable  evasion  for  a  day  or  two, 
when  Custer  at  last  informed  the  chiefs  that  if  the 
captives  were  not  restored  to  him  unharmed  by  sun- 


FORCEFUL  MEASURES  145 

set  the  next  day,  the  three  chiefs  would  be  executed 
and  active  hostilities  would  be  resumed.  While 
the  sun  was  still  an  hour  high,  about  twenty  dis 
mounted  figures  appeared  in  the  distance,  and  field 
glasses  disclosed  the  white  women  among  them. 
The  Kansas  troops  were  sent  out  to  receive  these 
captives  who  were  overjoyed  at  their  deliverance. 
They  had  been  treated  with  much  severity  and 
brutality  and  were  dressed  only  in  garments  made 
of  flour  sacks. 

Custer  returned  to  Camp  Supply,  taking  the 
three  chiefs  as  hostages,  and  at  last  the  whole 
tribe  followed,  settled  on  their  reservation,  and 
promised  to  abandon  the  war  path  forever.  The 
Kansas  troops  were  mustered  out  at  Fort  Hays 
and  they  described  how  under  Custer  they  had  been 
fed  on  one  hard-tack  a  day  and  the  "Arkansaw 
Traveler ! "  The  successful  march  of  this  volunteer 
regiment  and  the  Seventh  Cavalry  over  the  barren 
country  has  few  parallels  in  the  history  of  the  army. 

The  trouble  with  the  Indians  in  that  region  was 
practically  over,  thanks  to  the  energy  and  effi 
ciency  of  the  tireless  Custer.  He  had  proved  to 
them  that  opposition  was  hopeless,  and  that  they 
must  henceforth  accept  the  dictates  of  the  white 
man's  government. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

ATTACKED  BY  Sioux 

THE  close  of  the  successful  campaign  against  the 
Indians  south  of  the  Platte  River  gave  Custer  an 
opportunity  to  rest  and  hunt,  and  the  summer  of 
1869  was  pleasantly  passed  in  excursions  and  hunt 
ing-trips,  on  many  of  which  his  wife  and  various 
tourists  and  visitors  accompanied  him.  Deer,  elk, 
wild  turkey,  antelope,  and  buffalo  were  the  princi 
pal  game,  and  the  sportsmen  had  great  rivalry  in 
the  chase.  Custer  killed  three  elk  in  one  run  of 
four  miles,  and  with  a  party,  killed  sixteen  in  one 
day,  so  the  camp  was  well  supplied  with  fresh  meat 
the  whole  time.  On  another  day,  without  moving 
from  his  position,  he  shot  three  antelope,  the  nearest 
being  three  hundred  and  twenty  yards  away. 

The  winter  coming  on,  Custer  and  his  wife  re 
paired  to  Fort  Leavenworth  where  he  began  to 
write  his  "War  Memoirs"  and  carried  them  as  far 
as  the  battle  of  Williamsburg.  A  trip  to  New  York 
varied  the  monotony  of  garrison  life,  but  by  the 

146 


ATTACKED   BY  SIOUX  147 

spring  of  1870  they  were  again  on  the  plains  and  the 
season  was  again  spent  largely  in  hunting.  Custer's 
fame  as  a  sportsman,  as  a  horseman,  and  as  a  fine 
shot  rivaled  his  reputation  as  an  Indian  fighter 
and  cavalry  general.  Again  many  tourists  came 
out  to  hunt  the  buffalo  or  other  game  and  they 
always  sought  out  Custer  at  Fort  Hays,  in  the 
midst  of  the  buffalo  country. 

In  the  autumn  the  Seventh  Cavalry  was  broken 
up  and  sent  in  sections  to  different  posts.  Custer 
applied  to  be  assigned  to  Fort  Hays  for  duty  but 
this  was  not  granted ;  instead  he  was  ordered  east, 
and  in  March,  1871,  was  assigned  to  a  two-company 
post  at  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky,  not  far  from 
Louisville.  Here  he  remained  for  two  years  and 
wrote  articles  concerning  "Life  on  the  Plains" 
for  the  Galaxy  Magazine. 

In  January,  1872,  Custer  was  ordered  to  meet 
the  Grand  Duke  Alexis  of  Russia  at  Omaha,  and 
was  there  placed  by  General  Sheridan  in  charge  of 
the  field  operations  of  the  sporting  party  that  was 
to  show  Alexis  the  plains.  The  party  went  out  in  a 
special  train  on  the  Union  Pacific.  By  means  of 
his  scouts  Custer  located  the  bison  in  the  region  of 
the  camp  (named  Camp  Alexis)  which  was  estab 
lished  in  the  vicinity  of  Red  Willow  Creek,  now 
Hays  County.  By  daylight  on  the  i4th  of  January, 


148  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Custer  had  everything  in  order  for  the  hunt  and 
knew  exactly  where  the  buffaloes  were.  He  and 
Buffalo  Bill  were  to  keep  near  the  Grand  Duke  all 
the  time.  Everybody  had  a  jolly  experience  and 
the  hunt  was  a  success.  Custer  gave  an  exhibition 
of  horsemanship  that  the  Duke  declared  was  the 
finest  he  ever  saw.  In  the  evenings  there  were 
grand  dinners  and  Indian  entertainments;  alto 
gether  the  hunt  was  a  memorable  affair.  It  was 
the  last  great  buffalo  hunt.  During  the  next  twelve 
years  the  bison  was  exterminated  as  a  wild  animal, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  small  herds. 

Custer  accompanied  the  Grand  Duke  further 
west,  then  back  to  Louisville  where  Mrs.  Custer 
joined  the  party  and,  with  her  husband,  was  the 
guest  of  the  Duke  during  his  short  southern  tour, 
just  before  he  sailed  for  home. 

In  March,  1873,  the  whole  Seventh  Cavalry  was 
ordered  to  the  plains  of  Dakota.  They  were  first 
assembled  at  Memphis,  Tennessee.  By  means  of 
three  steamers  they  went  to  Cairo,  the  most  south 
erly  city  of  Illinois,  whence  the  journey  was  made 
by  rail  as  far  as  Yankton,  South  Dakota,  where 
the  line  then  ended  in  that  direction.  In  July 
the  march  across  country  was  begun  on  the  six- 
hundred-mile  journey  to  Fort  Rice.  It  consumed 
six  weeks.  During  the  whole  time  Mrs.  Custer 


ATTACKED  BY  SIOUX  149 

rode  at  the  head  of  the  column  with  her  sister-in- 
law  Mrs.  Calhoun,  Mrs.  Yates,  and  Mrs.  Smith. 
From  Bismarck,  the  ladies  returned  to  Michigan 
by  the  Northern  Pacific  Railway,  then  finished  to 
the  Missouri  River.  It  was  the  desire  to  push  the 
railway  on  westward,  and  a  military  escort  was 
necessary,  to  protect  the  engineers.  Custer  and  the 
famous  Seventh  Cavalry  were  chosen  for  the  work, 
as  the  Sioux  considered  this  railway  extension 
through  their  country  a  violation  of  their  treaty, 
and  indicated  their  resentment  very  plainly.  The 
troops  altogether  consisted  of  about  1700  men, 
the  entire  command  being  under  General  Stanley. 

The  engineering  work  of  the  Northern  Pacific 
was  under  the  direction  of  no  less  a  person  than 
General  Rosser,  Custer's  friend  at  West  Point, 
his  Civil  War  antagonist  in  Virginia,  now  his  good 
friend  and  companion.  Proceeding  far  up  the 
Yellowstone,  the  country  soon  became  so  rough 
that  the  wagon  train  was  delayed  in  searching  for 
a  possible  route,  and  this  led  Custer  to  suggest  that 
each  day,  with  two  companies  of  his  cavalry  and 
Indian  scouts,  he  should  explore  a  way.  General 
Stanley  agreed,  and  it  became  the  daily  order  for 
Custer  to  do  this. 

The  treaty  of  1868  distinctly  reserved  a  large 
portion  of  the  country  for  the  use  of  the  Sioux  and 


150          GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

prohibited  building  railways  without  their  consent, 
so  the  more  independent  Sioux  were  in  a  rebellious 
mood  over  the  Northern  Pacific  survey,  which 
mood  was  fostered  by  the  crafty  ecclesiastical 
leader,  Sitting  Bull,  whose  power  at  this  time  was 
so  potent  that  he  dominated  not  only  his  immedi 
ate  tribe  but  all  of  the  Sioux. 

By  the  middle  of  1872  the  Indian  situation  was 
bad.  The  Sioux  became  decidedly  hostile.  The 
Western  bands  had  lost  what  little  faith  they  ever 
had  in  the  white  man's  promises  —  the  promises 
of  the  "Great  Father,"  as  the  government  was 
styled  by  the  interpreters.  Certainly  it  was  any 
thing  but  fatherly  to  the  Indians. 

On  August  4,  1873,  as  Custer  pushed  on  in  his 
scouting  near  the  mouth  of  Tongue  River,  with 
eighty-six  men  and  five  officers,  Bloody  Knife,  his 
favorite  scout,  discovered  signs  of  Sioux.  The 
command  followed  the  trail  till  about  ten  in  the 
morning  as  it  led  their  way,  and  then  stopped  for  a 
rest  in  the  shade  of  a  cottonwood  grove  near  the 
bank  of  the  river.  The  men  were  drowsy,  owing  to 
an  early  start,  and  most  of  them,  including  Custer, 
were  napping  when  there  was  a  cry,  "Indians!" 
It  was  followed  by  the  crack  of  the  picket's  rifle. 
A  small  band  of  Sioux  were  riding  down,  on  the 
camp.  In  a  moment  the  enemy  were  checked  suffi- 


Photograph  by  U.  S.  Bureau  of  American  Ethnology. 

SITTING  BULL 

He  was  a  politician  and  high  priest  rather  than  a  chief,  his  power  lying 
in  necromancy  and  intrigue. 


ATTACKED  BY  SIOUX  151 

ciently  to  enable  the  troops  to  saddle  and  mount, 
and  with  twenty  men,  Custer,  his  brother,  and 
Calhoun  started  to  drive  off  the  half  dozen  or  so, 
well  aware  that  more  were  near.  The  riders  were 
fleet  and  kept  in  advance,  so  after  a  time  Custer 
ordered  all  to  hold  back  while  with  his  orderly  he 
rode  forward  to  try  for  a  parley. 

By  this  time  they  were  near  an  immense  tract  of 
timber  and  about  two  miles  from  the  place  where 
they  had  rested  and  where  the  other  troops  were 
stationed.  When  nearly  opposite  the  first  point 
of  this  timber,  Custer  signaled  a  halt  to  his  men. 
The  Indians  also  halted.  Custer  rode  in  a  circle, 
indicating  a  desire  for  a  talk.  They  watched  him 
a  moment  and  then  rode  on.  Custer  was  sus 
picious  of  a  trap  and  sent  his  orderly  back  to  warn 
his  brother  to  watch  a  certain  place;  and  as  the 
orderly  returned,  the  small  squad  of  Sioux  came  on 
as  if  to  attack.  Instantly  from  the  wood  on  the 
left  three  or  four  hundred  warriors  in  full  battle 
array  rode  out  at  full  speed,  moving  in  perfect 
line  and  order  like  the  best  cavalry.  They  came 
on  with  whoops  and  yells. 

Custer  was  in  a  predicament!  He  was  sepa 
rated  from  his  men,  few  though  they  were.  He 
was  at  one  apex  of  a  triangle  with  equal  sides,  while 
his  brother  and  the  troops  were  at  the  other  on  his 


152  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

right,  and  the  enemy  at  the  remaining  apex  on  his 
left.  Moylan,  with  reserves,  was  a  good  distance 
in  the  rear.  Ouster's  problem  was  to  ride  to  his 
men  before  the  enemy  could  overtake  him  or  head 
him  off.  He  wheeled  and  drove  in  his  spurs.  Away 
he  flew !  The  frightened  horse  sped  as  if  for  life ! 

Custer  shouted  " Dismount  your  men!"  but  he 
was  not  heard.  Colonel  Tom  saw  the  need  himself 
and  the  order  was  given.  In  a  twinkling  three  out 
of  every  four  were  on  the  ground,  the  fourth  holding 
the  horses.  Custer  was  nearing  friend  and  foe  at 
once.  The  fifteen  men  dropped  to  one  knee  for 
steady  aim.  The  Sioux  thundered  on  toward  them 
as  if  they  did  not  exist,  and  it  seemed  that  the 
solid  red  phalanx  was  about  to  trample  to  death  the 
little  band  of  soldiers  that  remained  so  silent  before 
them. 

"Now  let  them  have  it ! "  said  Colonel  Tom,  and 
fifteen  shots  from  the  breechloaders  went  home, 
followed  almost  instantly  by  another  fifteen. 
Several  warriors  went  down  in  their  saddles  and 
had  to  be  supported  by  others.  Yet  again  the 
breechloaders  spoke,  and  still  again,  the  troopers 
standing  like  a  rock  in  a  mountain  stream.  The 
Sioux,  not  expecting  such  volleys  from  so  few  men, 
wavered,  and  their  splendid  onrush  was  tempora 
rily  halted.  Then  they  caught  sight  of  Moylan's 


ATTACKED  BY  SIOUX  153 

reserves  coming  on  the  gallop,  and  they  fell  back  to 
the  woods  to  re-form. 

Meanwhile,  Custer  had  outstripped  the  enemy 
and  was  again  with  his  handful  of  good  men  and 
true,  with  Moylan  coming  fast.  It  would  be 
several  hours  before  the  main  force  could  arrive, 
and  during  this  time  Custer  knew  he  would  have 
hard  work  to  hold  back  the  enemy,  who  now  ap 
peared  again  with  tactics  changed  to  each  man 
riding  singly  and  for  himself,  instead  of  all  in  one 
squadron.  Forming  all  the  soldiers  in  a  circle,  with 
the  horses  in  the  center,  Custer  slowly  retreated  on 
the  defensive  to  the  woods  they  had  left,  where  a 
sort  of  natural  parapet  was  used  as  breastworks. 
Bloody  Knife  with  his  "  Henry  "  (the  original  Win 
chester)  seventeen-shooter  was  doing  great  work 
as  he  was  an  excellent  shot.  Custer  used  his 
Remington  with  equal  effect,  while  the  troopers 
were  not  far  behind  with  their  Spencers. 

One  bold  warrior  of  the  enemy  repeatedly  dashed 
near  —  within  two  hundred  yards  —  contemptu 
ously.  No  one  could  hit  him.  Then  Custer  told 
Bloody  Knife  to  shoot  the  Indian  and  he,  Custer, 
would  kill  the  horse.  When  the  warrior  came  the 
next  time,  two  reports  rang  out  together  and  horse 
and  rider  went  to  the  ground.  The  fight  had 
lasted  three  hours.  Ammunition  was  getting  low. 


154    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

The  Indians  tried  to  start  a  fire  in  the  grass.  It 
would  not  burn.  They  tried  to  sneak  in  behind, 
under  cover  of  the  river  bank,  but  this  move  was 
discovered  and  foiled.  The  situation  was  desper 
ate,  and  the  Indians  were  persistent  and  well 
managed.  What  would  happen  if  the  main  troops 
did  not  arrive  ?  They  were  not  due  for  hours. 

Suddenly  the  enemy  withdrew.  The  reason  was 
soon  clear.  They  had  sighted  four  squadrons  of 
cavalry  riding  hard,  with  banners  flying,  and  as 
soon  as  this  force  came  up,  Custer,  in  his  turn, 
was  after  the  Indian  enemy,  although  they  out 
numbered  his  men  five  to  one.  The  chase  was  not 
kept  up  for  long  and  the  pursuers  returned  to  the 
rendezvous. 

The  reason  the  cavalry  squadrons  had  arrived  so 
opportunely  was  that,  as  the  main  column  advanced, 
they  came  upon  the  dead  bodies  of  the  veterinary, 
Dr.  Honzinger,  the  sutler,  Baliran,  and  another  man 
who  had  remained  about  two  miles  behind  Custer. 
They  had  been  killed  and  scalped.  This  led  Gen 
eral  Stanley  to  send  on  the  troopers  posthaste,  for 
he  was  sure  Custer  would  run  upon  a  strong  force 
of  the  enemy. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

EXPLORING  THE  BLACK  HILLS 

ON  August  8,  an  unmistakable  trail  up  the  Yel 
lowstone  was  discovered.  It  was  only  two  days 
old.  That  night  Custer  started  to  follow  it  by 
moonlight,  with  four  squadrons  of  the  Seventh, 
and  by  daylight  he  had  made  thirty  miles.  Con 
cealing  the  horses  and  men  in  a  ravine  for  a  three 
hours'  rest,  they  went  on  at  eight  in  the  morning 
till  noon,  when  Custer  hid  the  command  again, 
this  time  in  timber.  At  evening  they  continued 
for  six  miles  to  where  the  trail  crossed  the  Yellow 
stone  River.  This  was  about  three  miles  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Bighorn.  The  Indians  had  crossed 
in  haste,  leaving  property  along  the  trail. 

The  river  was  about  one  third  of  a  mile  wide  and 
there  was  an  island  in  the  middle  of  it  to  which  Cus 
ter  took  his  men  at  dawn  by  difficult  fording.  Be 
yond  the  island  the  current  ran  at  least  seven  miles 
an  hour  and  the  water  was  deep.  After  repeated 
attempts  to  get  a  line  over  by  swimming,  they  were 


156     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

obliged  to  kill  cattle,  which  had  been  driven  along 
for  food,  and  make  coracles,  or  "  bull-boats,"  in 
frontier  style,  out  of  their  hides  stretched  on  wicker 
frames.  These  were,  in  fact,  large,  floating  bas 
kets.  While  engaged  in  this  work  they  were  dis 
covered  by  the  enemy,  who  in  large  numbers  soon 
crossed  above  and  below,  knowing  the  river  well. 

The  Indians  attacked  the  troops  in  force  and 
again  there  was  some  brisk  fighting  which  resulted 
in  considerable  loss  on  both  sides.  Private  Tuttle, 
a  fine  marksman,  killed  several  Sioux  and  was  then 
killed  himself.  Custer's  horse  was  shot  under  him 
as  was  also  Lieutenant  Ketchum's.  A  general 
charge  was  ordered,  with  the  band  playing  "  Garry - 
owen,"  and  the  enemy,  which  was  operating  under 
Sitting  Bull,  was  driven  nine  miles  and  forced  back 
across  the  river,  where  they  scattered  in  the  hills. 
The  expedition  was  not  molested  after  this. 

At  a  place  called  Pompey's  Pillar  the  whole  ex 
pedition  crossed  the  Yellowstone  River,  then  the 
Bull  Mountains  north  to  the  Musselshell  River, 
which  was  as  far  as  the  expedition  penetrated  at 
this  time.  Custer  wished  to  do  a  little  exploring 
on  his  own  account  and  to  return  by  a  new  route. 
He  was  allowed  to  make  the  attempt  and  without 
desiring  it  he  was  given  authority  to  destroy  his 
wagons  if  he  found  such  a  course  necessary. 


EXPLORING  THE  BLACK  HILLS          157 

With  six  companies  of  cavalry  and  the  engineers, 
he  struck  out  into  an  unknown  region.  On  Sep 
tember  6,  1873,  he  had  arrived  at  " Stockade,"  a 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant,  without  any  loss 
of  men  or  material,  and  on  the  23d  of  the  same 
month  he  was  safely  back  in  Fort  Lincoln,  North 
Dakota.  On  this  trip  he  collected  geological  speci 
mens  for  Michigan  University,  sketched  out  a  new 
route,  and  killed  much  game.  This  included  forty- 
one  antelope,  four  buffaloes,  four  elk,  seven  deer, 
two  white  wolves,  and  one  red  fox,  besides  geese, 
ducks,  and  prairie  chickens  without  number. 
From  the  taxidermist  of  the  party  he  had  learned 
skillfully  to  mount  his  trophies  and  with  these  he 
adorned  his  quarters.  He  also  brought  back  a 
live  wild  cat  and  a  porcupine  for  the  Central  Park 
Menagerie  of  New  York  City. 

After  these  operations  Custer  was  ordered  East 
for  a  time,  and  he  went  with  Sheridan  to  attend 
an  army  reunion  at  Toledo,  Ohio.  At  the  end  of 
his  leave  of  absence  he  was  ordered  to  command 
Fort  Lincoln,  opposite  the  town  of  Bismarck,  in 
North  Dakota.  The  Seventh  Cavalry  was  in 
stalled  there  and  all  went  pleasantly.  Custer  was 
proud  of  the  Seventh  and  declared  it  was  the  best 
cavalry  in  the  service  —  certainly  it  was  the 
steadiest  in  an  Indian  fight,  the  men  by  this  time 


158     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

being  so  accustomed  to  this  kind  of  work  that  they 
would  even  joke  while  the  enemy's  bullets  were 
singing  past  them. 

At  Fort  Lincoln  Custer  again  had  an  opportunity 
to  hunt,  and  he  must  have  been  a  picturesque 
figure  on  his  spirited  horse.  He  wore  high  top- 
boots,  fringed  buckskin  trousers,  and  a  dark  navy 
blue  shirt  with  a  roll  collar  and  red  tie.  His  wavy 
golden  hair  at  this  period  was  cut  short ;  his  mus 
tache  was  long  and  tawny;  his  hat  was  a  broad 
felt.  His  eyes  were  clear  blue  and  deeply  set, 
and  his  complexion  was  florid  from  sunburn.  He 
was  now  thirty-four  years  of  age,  nearly  six  feet  in 
height,  and  weighed  a  hundred  and  seventy 
pounds.  He  was  never  ill,  even  for  an  hour.  He 
had  at  this  time  about  forty  hounds  and  he  en 
joyed  nothing  more  than  his  hunting  trips. 

Winter  in  that  region  is  very  cold ;  temperatures 
of  twenty  and  thirty  degrees  below  zero  are  com 
mon,  with  plenty  of  snow.  In  the  midst  of  such  a 
winter,  Ouster's  quarters  caught  fire  and,  in  spite 
of  all  exertions,  the  house  was  a  total  loss.  Without 
his  wife's  knowing  it,  he  had  another  house  fur 
nished  completely,  and  then  suggested  that  she 
should  go  there  one  evening  to  consult  about  fur 
niture.  The  band  was  already  in  waiting  and 
playing  "Home,  Sweet  Home,"  while  the  whole 


EXPLORING  THE  BLACK  HILLS          159 

garrison  was  on  hand  for  the  housewarming  which 
took  place. 

Custer  was  as  much  on  the  alert  for  white  men's 
dishonesty  as  he  was  for  ugly  Indians.  He  knew 
the  government  was  being  swindled,  and  he  knew 
that  men  in  high  office  were  taking  some  of  the  prof 
its.  The  post-traders  charged  exorbitant  prices, 
and  the  Secretary  of  War  would  not  allow  the  men 
to  buy  elsewhere,  so  the  luckless  soldiers  were  being 
robbed  right  and  left  by  the  very  officials  who  should 
have  been  their  first  protectors.  This  was  common 
knowledge  all  over  the  West  at  that  time.  The 
officers  were  not  allowed  to  make  complaints  except 
through  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  as  the  Secretary 
was  one  of  the  chief  beneficiaries  of  the  robbery, 
nothing  could  be  done. 

Custer  was  outspoken  on  this  subject.  He  was 
an  honest  man  and  it  hurt  him  to  see  his  men 
swindled ;  it  hurt  him  to  see  the  Indians  swindled 
on  all  sides  by  supposedly  respectable  officials  and 
their  henchmen. 

On  one  occasion,  although  the  military  had  no 
right  to  do  so,  he  suddenly  entered  the  town  of 
Bismarck  with  an  armed  troop  and  recovered  a 
large  quantity  of  grain  (identified  by  the  bags) 
which  had  been  deliberately  stolen  from  his  post, 
and  he  arrested  the  thieves,  who  were  sent  to  the 


160     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

penitentiary.  The  men  responsible  for  the  dis 
graceful  conditions  of  this  period  were,  of  course, 
very  much  down  on  Custer  and  they  intended 
to  "get  even"  with  him.  General  Grant,  then 
serving  his  second  term  as  President,  had  one  fail 
ing  ;  being  honest  himself,  he  never  could  see  that 
any  relative  or  friend  of  his  was  dishonest.  So  he 
shielded  the  Secretary  of  War  and  other  officials 
whom  he  should  summarily  have  removed  from 
office.  The  fair  name  of  his  second  administration, 
in  fact,  was  jeopardized  by  the  dishonesty  which 
he  either  winked  at  or  did  not  see. 

When  the  Secretary  of  War  visited  Fort  Lincoln, 
Custer  was  so  disgusted  with  his  attitude,  and  had 
such  knowledge  of  his  dishonest  transactions,  that 
he  declined  to  meet  him  at  the  edge  of  the  reserva 
tion,  as  was  customary  with  an  official  of  his  rank, 
although  the  necessary  military  salute  was  fired. 
Custer  met  him  at  his  own  door  where  he  had 
waited.  The  business  was  transacted  quickly  and 
the  visitor  departed.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
state  that  for  this,  and  Custer's  general  attitude 
toward  these  matters,  Grant  and  the  grasping 
Secretary  had  a  rod  in  pickle  for  him.  Grant  was 
angry  and  his  wrath  finally  smote  Custer  in  a  sen 
sitive  spot — his  pride  in  the  Seventh  Cavalry  and 
in  his  own  powers  as  an  Indian  fighter. 


EXPLORING  THE  BLACK  HILLS          161 

As  the  spring  of  1874  opened,  the  Sioux  were 
again  on  the  war  path.  Notwithstanding  this 
activity  (which  was  another  protest  against  the 
government's  bad  faith  with  them)  it  was  decided 
that  the  Black  Hills,  in  the  western  part  of  South 
Dakota,  although  specially  reserved  to  the  Sioux 
by  solemn  treaty,  must  be  explored.  On  July  i 
of  this  year  a  force  of  1200  men,  under  General 
Forsyth,  accompanied  by  Custer  and  by  Lieutenant 
Fred  Grant,  the  President's  son,  who  was  on  Cus- 
ter's  staff,  started  in  that  direction. 

Custer  was  extremely  enthusiastic  over  the 
beauty  and  richness  of  the  Black  Hills.  On  July 
1 8  they  were  on  the  Belle  Fourche  River,  in  country 
not  then  mapped  out  and  generally  unknown  to 
white  men.  On  the  2oth  they  crossed  the  river 
and  entered  the  Black  Hills,  and  on  the  22d  Custer 
climbed  Inya  Kara  (Wyoming),  the  highest  of  the 
western  hills,  6600  feet  above  sea  level.  On  the 
western  side  of  the  mountains  they  followed  a 
valley  which  at  that  season  was  such  a  garden  of 
flowers  that  Custer  named  it  Floral  Valley. 
Bloody  Knife  discovered  five  lodges  of  Sioux  and 
Custer  was  able  to  surround  them.  Then  he  en 
tered  their  village  and  cordially  shook  hands  all 
around.  On  August  2d  he  was  near  Harney's  Peak 
and  on  the  i5th,  at  Bear  Butte.  During  this 


1 62  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

journey  he  was  busy  as  a  sportsman  as  well  as  an 
explorer,  for  he  killed  his  first  grizzly  bear,  "after 
a  most  exciting  hunt  and  contest."  The  photog 
rapher  made  a  picture  of  the  four  persons  who  were 
on  this  hunt  and  it  is  here  reproduced,  Custer, 
Colonel  Ludlow,  Bloody  Knife,  and  Private 
Noonan.  The  bear  measured  eight  feet. 

The  report  which  Custer  made  of  the  region  in 
September  was  a  glowing  one.  There  were  also 
reports  of  the  discovery  of  gold.  Thousands  of 
men  were  fired  with  a  desire  to  secure  homes  and 
fortunes  in  this  beautiful  land.  General  Hazen, 
on  the  other  hand,  declared  that  the  description 
was  exaggerated. 

Professor  Jenny  was  sent,  in  1875,  to  determine 
scientifically  the  value  of  the  mineral  resources 
of  the  Black  Hills,  over  which  differences  of  opin 
ion  had  arisen.  The  region  was  so  speedily  and  so 
widely  advertised  that  the  miners  and  ranchers 
who  refused  to  obey  the  mandate  to  vacate  had 
their  ranks  augmented.  " Custer  City"  had  been 
started  by  some  enthusiastic  pioneers,  and  the 
people  entirely  disregarded  the  claims  of  the 
Sioux,  while  the  latter  were  in  a  rage  over  the  per 
fidy  of  the  white  man's  government.  The  govern 
ment  tried,  ineffectually  and  half-heartedly,  to 
drive  the  miners  and  all  others  out,  with  no  success. 


Photograph  by  W.  H.  Illtngworth. 

OUSTER'S  FIRST  GRIZZLY 

General  Custer  was  a  keen  sportsman.  On  this  occasion  he  had  with 
him  Colonel  Ludlow,  Private  Noonan  (in  the  rear),  and  Scout  Bloody 
Knife. 


EXPLORING  THE  BLACK  HILLS          163 

In  January,  1875,  news  came  that  Rain-in- the- 
Face,  who  had  confessed  to  the  killing  of  Dr.  Hon- 
zinger  and  Baliran,  was  at  Standing  Rock  Agency. 
Custer  sent  his  brother  Tom  with  a  detachment  to 
capture  him ;  this  was  skillfully  accomplished  and 
Rain-in-the-Face  was  lodged  in  jail  at  Fort  Lincoln. 
Here  Custer  personally  secured  his  confession.  He 
was  kept  there  for  several  months  when  some 
hay  thieves,  who  were  locked  in  the  same  place, 
made  a  hole  for  their  own  escape  and  the  Indian 
followed. 

The  treaty  with  the  Sioux  had  been  repudiated ; 
despite  their  protests,  the  Northern  Pacific  Rail 
way  was  building,  and  their  Black  Hills  were  over 
run  with  miners  and  prospectors.  The  Western 
Sioux,  incited  by  their  high  priest  and  counselor 
Sitting  Bull,  were  in  a  desperate  mood. 

Early  in  1876  the  army  were  in  pursuit  of  the 
Sioux  —  Custer  after  Sitting  Bull  and  General  Crook 
after  another  of  the  great  chiefs  named  Crazy 
Horse.  Owing  to  the  difficulty  of  providing  for 
age  for  the  horses,  the  forces  at  length  withdrew 
till  the  grass  should  grow  green.  Meanwhile, 
preparations  were  under  way  for  one  of  the  most 
vigorous  campaigns  against  the  Sioux  yet  made, 
and  Custer  was  named  as  the  commander  in  the 
field  of  these  operations. 


1 64     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

While  he  was  in  the  midst  of  his  preparations,  he 
received  a  summons  to  go  to  Washington  and  testify 
before  the  committee  which  was  investigating  the 
conduct  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  Naturally  he 
was  disinclined  to  leave  his  task  and  delay  the 
preparations  for  the  campaign,  and  he  begged  to  be 
allowed  to  give  his  testimony  where  he  was.  This 
was  not  permitted. 

He  left  Fort  Lincoln  reluctantly  and  testified  in 
Washington,  as  the  committee  required.  As  he 
had  expected  to  take  the  field  against  the  Sioux 
early  in  April,  he  was  eager  to  join  his  commanci 
as  soon  as  he  was  excused  by  the  committee,  but 
the  President  was  offended  by  Custer's  frank  state 
ments  about  the  Secretary  of  War,  who  was  his 
personal  friend,  and  he  ordered  that  "some  one 
other  than  Custer  should  be  placed  in  charge  of  the 
expedition  from  Fort  Lincoln." 

Custer,  of  course,  was  sorely  disappointed  and 
three  times  he  called  on  the  President  to  try  to  in 
duce  him  to  relent  in  this  determination,  but  he 
was  not  granted  an  audience.  Finding  he  could 
not  see  the  President,  and  General  Sherman  being 
out  of  town,  Custer  received  permission  from  the 
Inspector  General  to  leave  for  his  post.  At  Chicago 
he  was  intercepted  by  a  dispatch  and  ordered  to 
wait  there,  while  the  expedition  was  directed  to 


EXPLORING  THE  BLACK  HILLS          165 

proceed  without  him.  At  the  last  moment  he  was 
permitted  to  rejoin  his  regiment,  and  in  command 
of  it,  but  not  in  command  of  the  whole  movement 
as  at  first  had  been  contemplated.  General  Terry, 
Commander  of  the  Department,  himself  took  charge. 
As  for  the  Secretary  of  War,  he  was  proven  guilty 
on  every  charge  against  him,  but  he  escaped  pun 
ishment  because,  having  resigned,  the  committee 
were  divided  on  the  technical  point  of  jurisdiction. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  Sioux 

THE  Indians  were  known  to  be  out  in  the  buffalo 
country,  somewhere  in  the  region  west  of  the  Black 
Hills,  but  exactly  where  they  were,  or  how  many 
had  congregated  there,  were  questions  the  troop 
commanders  could  not  definitely  answer.  It  was 
known  that  Sitting  Bull,  the  high  priest  and  prophet, 
was  exercising  his  powers  to  their  full  capacity, 
while  Gall,  Crow  King,  and  Crazy  Horse,  the  three 
generals,  were  obliged  to  subject  themselves,  more 
or  less,  to  Sitting  Bull's  necromancy,  although  they 
had  not  much  faith  in  him. 

With  three  divisions  of  troops,  General  Terry's 
plan  was  to  converge  in  the  region  of  the  Little 
Bighorn  River  near  the  Bighorn  Mountains, 
where  the  Indians  were  believed  to  be,  one  division 
under  himself,  Custer  accompanying  with  the 
famous  Seventh  Cavalry,  to  go  west  from  Fort  Lin 
coln  ;  a  second  under  Gibbon  to  come  east  from 
Fort  Ellis,  and  the  third,  under  Crook,  to  come  north 
from  Fort  Fetterman.  Terry  hoped  to  strike  the 

166 


ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  SIOUX  167 

Indians  from  the  three  directions  at  about  the 
same  time.  Crook  had  1300  men,  Gibbon  about 
400,  and  Terry  about  noo,  including  Indian  scouts 
and  teamsters.  The  entire  force,  therefore,  was 
about  2700.  Crook  left  Fort  Fetterman  May  29, 
and  on  the  i7th  of  June  was  defeated  on  the  Rose 
bud  River  by  the  Sioux  he  encountered  under 
Crazy  Horse.  He  then  fell  back  to  the  head  of 
Tongue  River  while  Crazy  Horse  with  his  band 
retired  to  where  the  other  Sioux  were  encamped. 
This  was  on  the  west  bank  of  the  Little  Bighorn, 
or  Greasy  Grass  as  they  called  it,  and  the  entire 
camp  extended  down  the  river  for  three  or  four 
miles,  some  of  the  groups  being  a  little  back  from 
the  river.  The  Indians  were  all  well  armed  but 
they  were  not  eager  to  fight.  They  wanted  to  be 
left  alone  so  that  they  might  enjoy  a  fine,  old- 
fashioned  time,  with  plenty  of  buffalo  and  other 
game,  as  well  as  an  abundance  of  wood  and  water ; 
all,  in  fact,  that  goes  to  make  for  sylvan  comfort. 

At  the  lower,  or  north,  end  of  the  vast  camp  were 
the  Hunkpapas,  under  Black  Moon,  Crow  King, 
and  Gall ;  next  above  came  the  Oglalas  and  B  rules 
away  from  the  river,  under  Crazy  Horse,  Big  Road, 
and  Low  Dog ;  then  the  Minneconjous,  under  Fast 
Bull  and  Hump ;  next  the  Sans  Arcs,  under  Spotted 
Eagle  and  Fast  Bear ;  then  the  Blackfeet  Sioux 


1 68    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

(not  related  to  the  regular  Blackfeet  tribe),  under 
Scabby  Head.  The  Northern  Cheyennes  were  a 
little  north  of  the  Minneconjous,  and  their  leaders 
were  White  Bull,  Two  Moon,  and  Ice  Bear,  while 
farther  south  and  last,  at  the  upper  part  of  the 
valley,  were  the  Santees  and  Yanktonnais,  under 
Inkpaduta.  This  immense  congregation  of  tribes 
was  armed  with  the  latest  pattern  Winchester  rifles 
which  shoot  seventeen  times  without  reloading, 
and  for  sudden  offense  or  defense  are  wonderfully 
effective.  They  had  revolvers  also  and  other  arms, 
including  bows  and  arrows  which,  at  short  range, 
are  not  to  be  despised. 

Charles  Eastman  ("Ohiyessa")  estimates  that 
there  were  between  1000  and  1500  warriors,  which 
was  about  Ouster's  estimate  of  what  they  would 
find,  but  all  other  estimates  were  much  lower. 
Custer's  was  the  only  one  before  the  fight  which 
came  near  the  Eastman  estimate,  and  the  latter 
was  made  up  from  talk  afterwards  with  the  Indians 
engaged ;  but  McLaughlin,  whose  knowledge  of 
the  Indians  and  the  whole  affair  from  the  In 
dian  side,  is  probably  superior  to  any  other, 
states  that  there  were  between  2500  and  3000 
warriors  assembled  on  the  Greasy  Grass.1  There 

1  See :  My  Friend  the  Indian,  by  James  McLaughlin,  New 
York,  1910. 


ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  SIOUX  169 

were  many  warriors  there  from  the  reservations 
to  enjoy  the  hunt,  and  they  joined  in  the  fight; 
but  as  they  could  not  admit  their  presence,  and 
slipped  away  as  soon  as  possible  to  return  to  their 
reservations,  it  is  probable  that  the  number  of 
men  available  on  the  Indian  side  on  that  occasion 
was  more  than  3000,  possibly  more  than  4000, 

The  Terry  division,  leaving  Fort  Lincoln  May  17, 
1876,  went  across  Powder  River,  thence  to  the 
mouth  of  Tongue  River,  and  there,  on  June  i, 
met  Gibbon  and  his  command.  Crook,  as  noted, 
had  fallen  back  to  the  headwaters  of  Tongue  River 
and  he  was  not  at  any  time  in  touch  with  the  others. 
Major  Reno  of  the  Seventh  Cavalry  was  sent  on  a 
scout,  with  six  companies,  up  Powder  River  to  look 
for  Indians  and  to  try  to  communicate  with  Crook, 
while  Terry  and  Custer  waited  near  the  steamer  Far 
West  at  the  mouth  of  Tongue  River.  Reno,  making 
a  wide  circuit,  came  back,  reporting  no  Indians  on 
Tongue  River,  but  telling  how  he  struck  a  heavy 
trail  on'  the  Rosebud  River.  This  indicated  that 
the  Indians  were  probably  either  on  the  Rosebud, 
the  Little  Bighorn,  or  the  main  Bighorn.  After 
a  consultation  between  Terry,  Gibbon,  and  Custer, 
they  decided  that  the  enemy  were  either  at  the 
head  of  the  Rosebud  River  or  on  the  Little  Big 
horn.  Gibbon  was  to  move  to  the  Bighorn  and  up 


170          GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

that  river  to  the  Little  Bighorn,  while  Custer  was 
ordered  up  the  Rosebud  to  swing  over  to  the  Little 
Bighorn  and  go  down  that  river  to  the  mouth. 
Thus  the  Indians  were  expected  to  be  crushed  be 
tween  these  two  columns.  As  Terry  did  not  know 
where  Crook  was,  Crook  could  not  be  counted  on 
for  immediate  aid.  In  special  and  final  orders 

,-  Terry  said  to  Custer  that  he  thought,  if  the  trail 
turned  toward  the  Little  Bighorn,  Custer  should 
go  on  southward,  perhaps  as  far  as  the  head  of 
Tongue  River,  and  then  turn  toward  the  Little  Big 
horn.  His  idea  in  this  was  that  the  Indians  might 
be  trying  to  escape  on  Custer's  left,  and  this  move 
would  preclude  their  doing  so.  He  was  fearful 

^  the  whole  time  that  the  Indians  might  escape.  But 
said  Terry  in  the  order,  "the  Department  Com 
mander  places  too  much  confidence  in  your  zeal, 
energy,  and  ability,  to  wish  to  impose  upon  you  pre 
cise  orders  which  might  hamper  your  action  when 
nearly  in  contact  with  the  enemy."  In  other 
words,  Custer  was  to  use  his  own  judgment,  and 
this  was  probably  well  understood,  because  aside 
from  the  formal  order  necessary  for  the  records,  in  a 
previous  conference  between  Terry,  Custer,  and 
Gibbon,  on  the  steamer  Far  West,  the  whole  matter 
had  been  carefully  gone  over,  and  Custer,  with  his 
experience,  was  doubtless  the  ruling  spirit. 


ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  SIOUX  171 

The  country  was  the  same  as  that  in  which 
Custer  had  pioneered  under  General  Stanley  for 
the  Northern  Pacific  survey,  so  he  felt  at  home  in  it. 
To  his  officers  Custer  said,  "  We  will  follow  the  trail 
for  fifteen  days,  unless  we  catch  them  before  that 
time  expires,  no  matter  how  far  it  may  take  us  from 
our  base  of  supplies.  You  had  better  carry  along 
an  extra  supply  of  salt,  for  we  may  have  to  live  on 
horse  meat  before  we  get  through."  Nothing  was 
known  of  the  defeat  of  General  Crook  by  the  Sioux 
under  Crazy  Horse. 

Proceeding  up  the  Rosebud  on  the  23d  of  June, 
1876,  following  a  very  large,  but  old,  lodge-pole 
trail,  the  command  made  thirty-three  miles.  The 
next  day,  still  going  on  up  the  Rosebud,  twenty- 
eight  miles  were  covered  and  the  trail  grew  fresher. 
Here  the  scouts,  including  the  faithful  Bloody 
Knife,  were  sent  out.  Custer  also  called  his  officers 
together  and  told  them  the  village  was  undoubtedly 
in  the  Little  Bighorn  Valley,  and  that  he  intended 
to  cross  over  the  divide  at  eleven  that  night.  Ac 
cordingly  the  command  proceeded  at  that  hour. 
At  two  in  the  morning  the  scouts  said  the  crossing 
could  not  be  made  in  the  dark  and  a  halt  was  made 
for  three  hours.  Hot  coffee  was  served  for  all  hands . 
The  march  then  continued  till  eight  in  the  morning, 
when  the  entire  force  was  in  the  valley  of  a  small 


'I 


172  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG   CUSTER 

branch  of  the  Little  Bighorn,  only  a  few  miles  from 
the  camp  of  the  Indians. 

Custer  had  intended  to  surprise  the  Indians, 
but  his  inability  to  cross  the  divide  in  the  night 
made  this  impossible,  even  if  his  trail  had  not  been 
discovered.  The  scouts,  especially  Bouyer,  were 
certain  there  would  be  a  big  fight,  and  the  Indian 
scouts  believed  the  same  thing  and  went  through 
their  incantations  continually,  to  invoke  the  aid 
of  their  guardian  spirits.  They  were  anointed 
by  their  priests  and  their  prayer-ceremonials  were 
of  a  weird  and  solemn  character. 

Meanwhile,  the  great  camp  of  10,000  or  more 
Sioux  had  no  knowledge  of  the  immediate  presence 
of  this  powerful  force  of  the  white  enemy.  But 
their  chiefs  were  not  fearing  any  force  whatever. 
They  knew  they  were  strong ;  they  were  elated  over 
the  recent  defeat  of  General  Crook,  and  their  con 
fidence  was  high.  Yet  they  were  not  expecting  an 
immediate  battle  for  they  thought  they  were  now 
out  of  the  white  man's  country  and  would  be  let 
alone.  "He  can  live  there,  we  will  live  here," 
said  Chief  Two  Moon  afterwards;  this  was  what 
the  Indians  thought.  So  they  prepared  for  feast 
ing  and  rejoicing  to  celebrate  the  conviction  that 
they  were  now  secure  and  would  have  no  more 
trouble;  the  old  times  had  come  again  when  the 


ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  SIOUX  173 

white  man  did  not  trouble  them  and  they  were 
masters  of  the  mountains  and  the  plains. 

But  on  the  night  of  June  24,  the  very  night  that 
Custer  took  his  troops  across  the  divide,  Sitting  Bull 
learned  that  the  soldiers  were  approaching  and  how 
powerful  the  force  was.  He  hurriedly  made  several 
dozen  " medicine  bags/'  filled  them  with  the  potent 
" mystery,"  the  control  of  which  formed  the  basis 
of  his  influence  in  the  tribe,  and  distributed  them 
among  the  chief  warriors  and  others  of  importance, 
to  secure  for  them  protection  and  success. 

The  women,  notwithstanding  the  confidence  of 
the  leaders,  got  their  property  together  in  compact 
form  for  a  possible  hasty  move.  Then  all  waited 
for  the  coming  of  the  soldiers. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

OUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE 

HAD  his  trail  not  been  discovered  —  it  was  now 
reported  that  it  had  —  Custer's  intention  was  to 
conceal  his  force  during  the  day  and  deliver  the 
attack  at  the  earliest  possible  hour  next  morning, 
June  26,  as  he  had  done  in  the  battle  of  the  Washita, 
but  this  was  now  out  of  the  question,  so  he  contin 
ued  down  the  tributary  valley  toward  the  Little 
Bighorn  River. 

The  Indians  by  this  time  knew  exactly  where  he 
was  and  how  many  men  he  had.  They  intended  to 
fight  when  attacked,  though  they  decided  not  to 
go  far  from  their  camp  to  bring  on  the  battle.  They 
waited,  uncertain  just  when  and  where  the  troops 
would  attack  them. 

On  Sunday  morning,  June  25,  1876,  the  troops, 
about  six  hundred  strong,  approached  on  the  east 
side  of  the  river  to  give  battle  in  the  open  day  to 
the  Indians  who  were  all  on  the  other,  or  west,  side. 
About  noon,  when  twelve  or  fifteen  miles  from  the 

174 


OUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE  175 

enemy,  Custer  halted,  and  after  a  consultation, 
divided  his  forces  into  four  parts.  With  five  com 
panies,  about  two  hundred  men,  he  followed  on 
down  the  main  Indian  trail ;  Major  Reno,  with  three 
companies,  about  one  hundred  and  fifteen  men, 
marched  on  Ouster's  left,  very  near  and  abreast,  in 
the  same  direction ;  and  Captain  Benteen,  with 
three  companies,  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  men, 
marched  to  Reno's  left,  at  an  angle  of  about  forty- 
five  degrees,  with  orders  to  attack  any  Indians 
he  might  meet.  Captain  McDougall,  with  one  com 
pany,  about  forty-five  men,  was  ordered  to  follow 
in  the  rear  of  the  pack-train,  which  necessarily 
would  move  more  slowly  than  the  mounted  troopers. 
The  pack-train  had  with  it  about  a  hundred  men, 
all  told.  The  command  had  no  wagons;  every 
thing  was  packed  on  the  backs  of  animals. 

Reno  was  to  cross  the  river  and  attack  the  head 
or  nearest  part  of  the  camp,  while  Custer  planned 
to  swing  to  the  right  and  make  his  attack  farther 
down,  at  about  the  same  time.  For  seven  or 
eight  miles  Custer  proceeded  abreast  of  Reno, 
from  fifty  to  three  hundred  yards  apart,  and  then 
ordered  him  to  push  forward  as  rapidly  as  he  con 
sidered  prudent  till  he  reached  the  Indians,  who 
were  reported  to  be  in  flight,  then  to  charge  them 
vigorously  and  drive  everything  before  him. 


176     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

After  two  or  three  miles  further  down  the  Indian 
trail,  and  when  within  about  one  mile  of  the  Little 
Bighorn,  Custer  turned  squarely  to  the  right  and 
led  his  force  up  the  bluff,  or  ridge,  where  he  saw 
some  Indians.  When  he  reached  the  summit 
the  Indians  were  gone,  but  from  this  position  the 
Indian  camp  was  plainly  visible,  extending  about 
four  miles  along  the  west  side  of  the  river,  with  a 
width  of  about  two  miles.  Reno  was  seen  going 
full  speed  down  the  valley  with  his  troops.  When 
within  a  half  mile  of  the  east  side  of  the  camp, 
Captain  Tom  Custer  sent  Sergeant  Kanipe  back 
with  a  message  to  Captain  McDougall  to  bring  the 
pack-train  straight  across  country  quickly,  even  to 
leave  behind  any  packs  that  came  loose,  and  also 
a  message  to  Benteen  to  come  on  rapidly  as  the 
camp  was  a  big  one.  The  order  was  sent  to  Ben- 
teen  because  Reno  was  supposed  to  be  engaged  in 
executing  his  attack. 

Reno,  who  had  had  no  previous  experience  in 
Indian  fighting,  forded  the  Little  Bighorn  and 
halted  for  a  few  moments  to  re-form  his  battalion. 
Then  he  proceeded  to  carry  out  his  further  orders. 

Captain  Benteen,  an  experienced  Indian  fighter, 
was  unable  to  execute  his  orders,  owing  to  the 
character  of  the  country,  and  he  was  obliged  to  turn 
to  the  right  and  take  very  much  the  same  route 


CUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE  177 

that  Reno  and  the  others  had  followed.  Kanipe 
met  him  watering  his  horses  and  then  pushed  on  to 
reach  McDougall,  to  tell  him  to  hurry  up  the  pack- 
train.  In  about  four  miles  Kanipe  met  the  train 
which  at  once  went  on  as  swiftly  as  possible  to  the 
bluff,  where  Kanipe  had  left  the  Custer  brigade, 
to  follow  on  Custer's  trail. 

Meanwhile,  the  Indians  were  not  expecting  the 
troops  so  soon,  and  many  of  them  were  eating  when 
from  the  upper  or  south  end  of  the  camp  was 
heard  the  sudden  cry—  "Woo!  Woo!  Hay-ay! 
Hay-ay!  Warriors,  to  your  saddles!  The  white 
soldiers  are  upon  us  J"  Immediately  the  bullets 
began  to  fly.  Reno,  having  reached  his  designated 
position,  dismounted  his  men  to  fight  on  foot  near 
a  point  of  timber,  and  he  began  the  fight  in  this  way 
instead  of  making  a  vigorous  charge. 

Gall,  the  principal  Indian  chief,  had  not  expected 
the  first  blow  in  this  quarter,  but  further  on,  as  he 
had  seen  Custer  on  the  ridge,  moving  in  that  direc 
tion.  He  did  not  know  that  the  forces  were 
divided.  Custer  advanced  along  the  ridge  in  plain 
view  of  the  Indians,  intending  to  cross  the  river 
lower  down  and  hit  the  village,  or  camp,  at  that  end, 
exactly  where  Gall  was  expecting  him.  Custer 
did  not  arrive  at  that  locality  till  after  Reno's  at 
tack  began. 


178    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

The  onslaught  of  Reno  threw  the  Indian  camp 
into  confusion  at  that  point,  as  it  was  not  expected, 
but  Chief  Gall  managed  to  get  there  speedily,  and 
riding  about  with  Black  Moon  and  the  other  chiefs, 
he  soon  reorganized  the  people  and  brought  a 
strong  force  to  bear  on  Reno.  At  the  same  time, 
Sitting  Bull,  not  being  physically  very  brave,  was 
thoroughly  frightened,  and  believing  the  day  to  be 
lost,  he  packed  his  effects  hastily,  losing  one  of  his 
twin  boys  in  the  hurry,  and  with  his  beloved  family 
scurried  away  on  his  horses  for  the  safer,  distant 
hills. 

Reno  was  soon  in  a  precarious  situation.  In 
less  than  half  an  hour  the  Sioux  warriors  worked 
around  his  left  and  even  to  his  rear,  while  pressing 
him  severely  on  the  front.  Reno  thereupon  con 
cluded  to  withdraw  to  the  timber,  with  the  river  at 
his  back,  where  the  battle  went  on  for  about  three 
quarters  of  an  hour  longer.  Perceiving  that  he  was 
in  danger  of  being  completely  surrounded  by  the 
enemy  who  swarmed  on  the  further  side  of  the  river, 
Reno  ordered  the  command  to  remount  and  began 
a  precipitate  retreat  along  the  bends  of  the  river 
toward  a  place  about  a  mile  and  a  half  below  the 
ford,  over  which  he  had  recently  come,  heading  for 
a  ravine  by  which  to  mount  the  bluffs  on  the  other 
side,  so  as  to  secure  a  defensive  position.  His 


CUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE  179 

men,  quite  demoralized,  crossed  the  stream  in  wild 
fashion  and  many  were  killed  by  the  Indians  riding 
along  with  them  even  across  the  water.  One 
officer  and  sixteen  soldiers  were  left  in  the  timber, 
as  well  as  several  civilians,  some  of  whom  later  re 
joined  the  command.  In  this  retreat  Reno  lost 
twenty-nine  men  killed  and  wounded  besides  three 
officers.1 

Reno  has  been  severely  condemned  for  making^ 
this  retreat  instead  of  charging  the  Indians  with 
more  vigor,  or  at  least  holding  the  position  in  the 
wood,  and  Chief  Gall  said  afterwards  he  believed 
that  if  Reno  had  persisted  in  his  first  attack,  with 
out  dismounting  his  men  as  he  did,  the  end  might 
have  been  different.  In  view  of  the  vast  number 
of  warriors  available,  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if 
Reno  with  his  hundred  and  fifty  troopers  could 
have  attacked  in  any  way  to  achieve  a  permanent 
success.  If  the  weight  of  all  the  troops  had  been 
thrown  against  this  particular  place,  with  sudden 
fury,  the  Indians  might  have  been  compelled  to 
give  way  —  at  least  there  would  have  been  more 
chance  for  victory.  ^ 

1  Major  Reno  was  court-martialed  at  his  own  request  on  his 
action  at  the  Battle  of  Little  Bighorn  and  many  of  the  facts  in 
this  chapter  are  drawn  from  the  manuscript  record  of  the  trial, 
in  the  archives  of  the  War  Department.  The  court  decided 
that  "  no  further  proceedings  "  were  necessary. 


i8o    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 
i 

At  the  time  of  this  retreat  and  when  the  bluff 
was  reached,  brisk  firing  was  heard  down  the  river, 
which  was  probably  the  beginning  of  the  engage 
ment  of  Custer  and  his  division  with  the  Indians. 

Reno  finally  reached  the  bluffs  about  two  o'clock 
and  there  stood  at  bay,  his  men  scraping  out,  as 
well  as  they  could  with  three  spades  and  their  tin 
cups,  some  shallow  rifle  pits.  In  about  half  an  hour 
Captain  Benteen  came  up,  and  the  addition  of  his 
force  to  that  of  Reno  made  it  more  difficult  for 
the  Indians  to  charge  with  success.  This  addition 
to  his  numbers  probably  saved  Reno  from  annihila 
tion.  About  four  o'clock  the  pack-train,  and  Cap 
tain  McDougall  with  his  company,  came  safely 
through.  There  were  now  plenty  of  supplies  but 
there  was  no  water  nearer  than  the  river. 

Meanwhile  Custer  had  led  his  command  along  the 
ridge,  or  ridges,  toward  the  north,  or  "  down 
river"  end  of  the  encampment,  and  at  length, 
about  two  miles  from  his  battlefield,  sent  a  second 
messenger  back  with  orders  for  Benteen  to  hurry 
up  and  bring  the  packs.  When  Reno  had  distrib 
uted  ammunition  and  provided  for  the  wounded, 
he  moved  along  the  bluffs  down  the  river  with  his 
command,  following  Captain  Weir  and  his  company 
previously  sent  out  that  way,  to  try  to  get  in  touch 
with  Custer.  This  was  the  direction  it  was  thought 


CUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE  181 

Custer  had  taken  and  in  which  it  was  known  Terry's 
command  was  to  be  found.  By  this  time  all  sounds 
of  firing  had  ceased.  After  proceeding  some  dis 
tance,  it  was  found  that  the  continuance  of  this 
move  would  imperil  the  whole  command,  and  it 
was  deemed  necessary  to  return  to  the  position 
formerly  occupied,  where  a  successful  defense  was 
maintained.  Although  two  distinct  volleys  previ 
ously  were  heard  that  might  have  indicated  it, 
none  of  Reno's  command  realized  that  Custer  was 
in  distress. 

Custer,  at  first,  had  mistaken  the  signs  of  commo 
tion  in  the  Sioux  camp  for  evidences  of  retreat,  arid 
he  charged  along  the  heights  he  was  on  with  his  cus 
tomary  vim  and  gallantry  till  he  arrived  at  a  posi 
tion  about  four  miles  below  the  place  afterwards 
held  by  Reno.  He  had  become  convinced  of  the 
vast  number  of  warriors  waiting  for  him,  as  is  indi 
cated  by  his  sending  back  the  messengers.  There 
was  a  ford  of  the  river  about  three  miles  down  his 
course  but  Custer  did  not  attempt  to  cross  there ; 
he  seems  to  have  passed  it  about  half  a  mile  to  the 
northeast  and  to  have  made  for  another  ford  at 
the  north  end  of  the  camp.  The  river  could  be 
forded  at  many  places,  except  for  the  steep  banks. 

While  Custer  was  approaching  along  the  high 
ground,  Chief  Crazy  Horse,  an  excellent  general, 


182     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

with  a  powerful  force  of  Cheyennes,  was  skillfully 
crossing  the  river  below  unseen,  and,  under  the 
screen  of  another  ridge,  deploying  his  men  into  a 
ravine  by  which,  without  discovery,  hejxmldjsass 
around  to  the  north  and  east  of  the  position  which 
Custer  presently  would  occupy.  Consequently, 
in  a  short  time  there  were  a  great  number  of  fully 
armed,  determined  warriors  in  readiness  to  fall  upon 
Custer's  rear  at  the  proper  moment,  and  they  were 
all  hidden  from  Custer  by  the  nature  of  the  ground. 

The  cavalry  were  permitted  to  advance  well  down 
the  slope  toward  the  river  before  the  main  body  of 
the  Sioux  showed  themselves  in  front.  Then  the 
Indians  made  an  avalanche  attack  on  the  troopers. 
Custer  immediately  saw  the  peril  of  his  situation, 
although  he  still  did  not  know  of  the  large  body  in 
his  rear.  He  ordered  a  quick  retreat  to  gain  better 
ground.  Chief  Gall  afterwards  said  it  was  appar 
ent  to  him  that  Custer  was  surprised  at  the  great 
number  of  warriors  and  the  suddenness  and  fury 
of  the  attack. 

There  was  no  time  on  Custer's  part  for  maneuver 
ing  ;  no  time  for  orders ;  no  time  for  anything  but 
a  general  effort  to  stem  the  mighty  onslaught  of 
the  Indians  who  swept  upon  the  little  group  of  sol 
diers  with  irresistible  power.  When  Custer,  with 
some  of  his  force,  managed  to  reach  the  elevated 


Photograph  by  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ai 

CHIEF  GALL 


trlcan  Ethnology. 


Gall  was  the  supreme  general  of  the  Sioux  forces.  It  was  he  who 
kept  the  strength  of  the  Indians  on  the  Little  Bighorn  concealed  from 
the  whites,  and  whose  plans  brought  victory. 


OUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE  183 

position  he  was  trying  for,  to  secure  a  decent  defen 
sive,  the  squadrons  which  Gall  had  sent  up  the  ra 
vine  under  Crazy  Horse,  to  strike  in  the  rear  of  the 
soldiers,  rose  up  and  surrounded  them.  Now  there 
were  hosts  of  Indians  in  front,  or  south ;  hosts  on 
the  east;  hosts  on  the  north;  probably  not  less 
than  ten  or  fifteen  warriors  to  each  trooper. 

These  movements  all  took  place  with  amazing 
rapidity.  On  the  elevation,  Keogh's  and  Calhoun's 
troops  apparently  were  halted  and  dismounted  to 
fight  on  foot,  the  horses  being  left  in  a  ravine. 
Many  of  the  horses  were  stampeded  and  captured 
by  the  Indians;  there  was  ammunition  in  the 
saddlebags  (each  trooper  carried  fifty  rounds  on 
his  person  and  fifty  in  his  saddlebags)  and  this 
left  many  soldiers  with  only  a  small  number  of  car 
tridges.  The  troops  of  Smith  and  Yates  were 
further  down  the  hill.  While  shifting  to  the  final 
positions,  there  was  swift  and  furious  fighting; 
according  to  Red  Horse,  the  troops  fell  back  five 
times. 

When  Chief  Gall  gave  the  final  signal,  the  im 
mense  horde  of  warriors  under  Crazy  Horse,  who 
had  so  cunningly  slipped  up  the  ravine  to  Custer's 
rear,  fell  upon  the  soldiers  from  that  direction  and 
the  trap  was  complete.  Now  with  their  wild  yells 
the  Cheyennes,  the  Hunkpapas,  the  Blackfeet 


1 84  GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Sioux,  the  Minneconjous,  the  Oglalas,  the  Sans  Arcs, 
and  the  Brules,  all  dashed  swiftly  and  mercilessly 
upon  the  cavalry  at  bay,  in  an  overwhelming  charge 
from  three  different  quarters,  raining  volleys  from 
their  repeating  Winchesters.  What  if  the  brave 
soldiers  did  pour  out  their  bullets  as  fast  as  their 
single-loading  carbines,  sometimes  inoperative, 
would  permit !  Time  and  opportunity  for  defense 
were  gone.  They  were  enveloped  as  a  whirlwind 
envelops  a  haystack.  They  might  as  well  have 
been  shooting  into  a  tidal  wave  or  a  monsoon.  The 
air  was  dark  with  smoke  and  dust;  it  was  rent 
asunder  by  the  multitudinous  yells,  shrieks,  and 
whoops  of  the  terrible  foe  surging  about  like  the 
cohorts  of  Satan.  It  was  a  cyclonic  human  storm. 
In  half  an  hour,  or  less,  the  fierce  tempest  had 
passed.  All  was  over.  Above  the  silent  dead  the  sky 
spread  calmly  as  if  nothing  appalling  had  happened. 
Not  one  of  Ouster's  devoted  command  escaped. 
The  only  person  surviving  was  the  Crow  scout, 
Curley,  who  quickly  made  himself  up  to  resemble  a 
Sioux  and  so  mingled  with  them  undiscovered  till 
he  caught  a  pony  and  rode  away.  It  is  related  that 
when  he  perceived  the  hopelessness  of  the  defense, 
he  went  to  Custer  and  suggested  that  Custer 
might  escape  by  following  his  plan,  but  the  General 
scorned  to  dp  it.  Bloody  Knife  also  fell. 


OUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE  185 

Having  disposed  of  this  part  of  the  foe,  Gall, 
with  Crow  King  and  Grass,  intended  to  move  at 
once  on  Reno  and  destroy  him,  but  for  the  moment 
the  warriors  were  too  much  excited  over  the  pros 
pect  of  spoils  of  war  to  be  controlled.  Then  the 
women  and  boys  came  on  the  scene  with  clubs, 
hatchets,  guns,  and  knives.  They  shot  into  the 
dead  bodies ;  they  hacked  and  they  mutilated  the 
dead  enemy,  according  to  their  horrible  way. 
Custer's  body  was  respected  and  was  left  intact. 
He  was  the  great  chief.  As  he  had  recently  cut  his 
locks,  his  body  was  at  first  not  recognized,  but  was 
finally  identified  by  the  maps  in  the  pockets  and  by 
his  dress.  Keogh  also  was  not  mutilated  because 
around  his  neck  was  discovered  an  Agnus  Dei,  an 
emblem  often  worn  by  Catholics.  Of  course  all 
clothing  and  valuables  were  taken  as  well  as  the 
scalps ;  all  except  Custer's  and  Keogh's. 

With  Custer  in  this  maelstrom  were  swept  away, 
at  one  stroke,  his  brother  Colonel  Tom,  his  brother 
Boston,  his  brother-in-law  Captain  Calhoun,  and 
his  nephew,  Autie  Reed.  The  number  killed  on 
this  field  was  two  hundred  and  twelve,  Custer's 
entire  immediate  command,  including  scouts  and 
civilians.  Reno  lost  fifty-six.  The  Indian  losses 
were  a  hundred  and  thirty-six  dead  and  a  hundred 
and  sixty  wounded  in  the  special  engagement  with 


1 86     GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

Custer.  The  total  losses  of  the  whites  in  the  entire 
battle  were  two  hundred  and  sixty-four  killed  and 
fifty-two  wounded.  The  battlefield  has  been  made 
a  National  Cemetery,  and  the  spot  where  each  sol 
dier  fell  is  marked  by  a  marble  slab  ;  in  trie  case  of 
officers,  the  slab  bears  his  name  and  rank.  The 
place  where  Custer  fell  is  indicated  by  a  cross, 
near  a  substantial  monument  on  which  all  the 
officers'  and  privates'  names  are  carved.  Custer 
was  buried  at  West  Point. 

After  a  time  Chief  Gall  was  able  to  assemble  his 
warriors  again  and  return  to  the  assault  on  Reno's 
position,  but  as  night  came  on,  most  of  the  braves 
could  not  resist  the  temptation  to  go  down  to  the 
camp  to  join  in  the  general  exultation  over  the 
victory. 

The  intrepid  Sitting  Bull,  overtaken  miles  away 
by  a  courier  with  the  news  of  triumph,  returned 
to  the  scene  and  coolly  claimed  that  in  the  hills  he 
had  been  actively  interceding  with  the  gods  for 
this  glorious  result  and  that  it  was  entirely  due  to 
his  own  marvelous  powers ! 

Before  daylight,  on  the  26th  of  June,  Reno  was 
besieged  by  Gall  and  his  legions.  Reno  now  had 
the  active  aid  of  Benteen,  and  the  Indians  would 
have  found  the  assault  costly,  though  owing  to  lack 
of  water  in  the  defenses  they  had  merely  to  wait, 


CUSTER'S  LAST  BATTLE  187 

but  a  change  suddenly  came  over  them.  One  of 
their  scouts  brought  news  of  the  approach  of  the 
" walking  soldiers"  (Terry's  and  Gibbon's  com 
mands)  and  offensive  operations  were  speedily 
abandoned.  "The  coming  of  the  walking  soldiers," 
said  Red  Horse,  "was  the  saving  of  the  soldiers  on 
the  hill."  The  whole  Indian  encampment  was  soon 
on  the  move,  and  by  sunset  all  had  vanished  into 
the  west.  The  last  great  stand  of  the  Indians,  in 
the  long  battle  with  the  whites  for  supremacy  on 
the  Plains,  was  over.  Custer  did  not  die  in  vain. 
Perhaps  the  Sioux  had  a  lurking  feeling  that  their 
success  had  been  too  complete. 

In  the  discussions  of  the  Battle  of  the  Little  Big 
horn,  it  appears  to  be  generally  assumed  that 
soldiers  ought  to  win,  no  matter  how  heavy  the 
odds,  but  the  facts  are  that  in  this  battle  the  Sioux 
were  overwhelmingly  superior  in  numbers;  that 
they  were  admirably  handled  as  a  fighting  force; 
that  they  were  quick,  brave,  and  tireless ;  ^and  that 
their  fine,  seven  teen-shoo  ting  Winchesters  were  far 
more  effective  under  the  existing  conditions  than  the 
single-loading  carbines  of  the  troops.  Must  we 
not  admire  the  Indians  for  their  intelligence,  for 
their  skill  and  courage,  and  for  the  military  ability 
displayed  in  this  battle,  however  much  we  may 
mourn  the  result  ? 


1 88    GEORGE  ARMSTRONG  CUSTER 

From  Bull  Run  to  the  Little  Bighorn !  The  race 
was  run.  And  how  glorious  the  record !  For 
fifteen  years  the  noble  Custer  had  met  his  foe  with 
joy  in  every  battle,  and  in  every  battle  he  had  been 
triumphant ;  in  the  manner  of  his  death,  on  that 
25th  day  of  June,  1876,  he  was  equally  triumphant, 
and  the  story  of  his  life  will  shine  bright  forever  as 
a  guiding  star  for  all  soldiers.  Taps  had  sounded 
for  him  for  the  last  time !  The  lights  were  out ; 
but  one  was  waiting  far  away,  and  the  brave  Ouster's 
final  thought  was  certainly  of  her  —  waiting,  as 
so  often  she  had  waited  before.  His  last  fight  had 
been  fought.  In  the  annals  of  his  country  the 
gallant  and  heroic  Custer  holds  an  exalted  place 
as  a  skillful  and  daring  cavalry  officer  and  as  one 
of  the  best  Indian  fighters  the  army  has  ever  pro 
duced. 

From  time  immemorial  "taps"  has  been  sounded 
over  the  soldier's  grave,  and  every  military  person 
is  familiar  with  the  words  so  long  associated  with  it. 
It  is  appropriate,  therefore,  to  quote  these  words  as 
we  say  farewell  to  this  great  soldier : 

"Love,  good  night,  must  thou  go, 
When  the  day  and  the  night  need  thee  so ! 
All  is  well  —  speedeth  all  to  their  rest." 


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